Apparently frustrated by the ever present traffic gridlock leading into Apapa, investigations by Shipping Position Daily has revealed that residents of the Government Reserved Area (GRA) of Apapa Lagos have now abandoned their homes, even as reptiles and weeds have taken over some of the houses.
According to investigations by our correspondent, not less than 250 houses have been abandoned in Apapa, while some choice property owners have been forced to convert their houses to office spaces.
Prices of such properties have equally dropped by about 20 percent, compared to when the Apapa access roads were in good shape and devoid of gridlock.
Our correspondent on a visit to some of the abandoned buildings at Apapa GRA last week noticed that some of the houses have been abandoned for more than three to five years as many of the building have now lost real time value.
Speaking with one of the landlords along Commercial Avenue area of the suburb, he informed our correspondent that he had wanted to sell his property and buy another one where the road is accessible but that he has not been able to get the real value for the property.
He also lamented that the prices for houses in the area has dropped significantly.
According to him “Before now, Apapa GRA was built to be home to the rich and affluent, but that is not the case anymore, due to poor state of the roads and the fear of falling tanker day in day out, many are now deserting Apapa, nobody want to come to Apapa anymore"
“When you check some of the buildings in the GRA, you will noticed that weeds have taken over the buildings, and what some of the people are doing now is that many are now converting the buildings to office space, I have also been looking for who will buy, there are two houses in my care but the price am getting is not good enough because it’s as if you are forcing the people to come and buy by force"
“So, I only hope that government will speed up the construction of roads and do something about all these trucks and container because before now Apapa used to be a lovely place to be, we can only hope that the good old days return” he said.
Another resident who spoke with our correspondent and identified himself as Mr. Yussuf said the perennial gridlock in Apapa has affected the prices of properties, adding that in the last few years, rent for accommodation has dropped significantly.
“I don’t know if you were in Apapa in 2014 or 2015, if you don’t know go and ask, for you to rent a mini flat around Liverpool area then cost about N450,000 N500,000 but now if you want a mini flat in that area I can get it for N300,000 or at most N350,000 per annum” he said.
Ayoola Onifade a resident at the Ajeromi Ifelodun Area of Apapa also informed our correspondent that the new trend has affected shop owners and business centres as they now record low sales.
“Of course, it is true that there are many abandoned houses, we can only pray that government do the right thing because it is affecting us as business owners too” he said.
In a telephone chat with an official of Great Links Properties and Homes, one of the real estate owners and property manager in Apapa, he disclosed that the worth of properties in Apapa have now dropped by 20 percent low in recent time.
He lamented that many of the real estate agents are now running out of business as it is difficult to convince anybody to acquire a property in Apapa.
“One of those things that makes a place enjoyable is if you have a good access road, the roads that lead to Apapa are very bad and because of this, so many businesses are nose diving as we speak, and most building you see in Apapa are now converted for purely office use"
"Presently, there are limited residential buildings in Apapa, most of them are now used for businesses, in as much as there are no good roads in Apapa many of them are now even relocating, so that is why there are so many abandoned building in Apapa"
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