Lagos’s APC governorship candidate has promised a mortgage requiring only a 10% initial payment, with the balance repaid over 25 years. On a ₦40 million flat that cuts the upfront cash from ₦12 million to ₦4 million – a real gain.
But at the mortgage rates actually available in Lagos, the 25-year term does almost nothing. At 32%, adding five years to the loan saves about ₦1,380 a month.
The plan as announced
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Initial payment | 10% of the property price |
| Repayment term | 25 years |
| Announced by | Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Deputy Governor and APC governorship candidate |
| Where and when | Lagos Governorship Debate, Nigeria Debate Consortium, Lekki, Sunday 8 November 2026 |
| Election | 6 February 2027 |
| Interest rate | Not stated |
That last row is the one that decides whether the scheme works.
What the 10% deposit actually achieves
It is a genuine change, and worth stating plainly. On a ₦40 million property:
| Upfront cash | |
|---|---|
| At 30% deposit | ₦12,000,000 |
| At 10% deposit | ₦4,000,000 |
Eight million naira less before you can move in. For a buyer who has the income to service a mortgage but not the savings to raise a deposit, that is the difference between qualifying and not.
What the 25-year term achieves
Here the arithmetic turns. Repaying the ₦36 million balance over 25 years at the rates the market is charging:
| Interest rate | Monthly repayment on ₦36m over 25 years |
|---|---|
| 6% | ₦231,949 |
| 10% | ₦327,132 |
| 27% | ₦811,023 |
| 32% | ₦960,358 |
These are calculated from the stated rate and term. At 32%, the monthly payment is roughly four times what it would be at 6%.
The five years that do almost nothing
This is the comparison that matters, and it is why the term is the wrong lever:
| Term at 32% | Monthly repayment |
|---|---|
| 20 years | ₦961,738 |
| 25 years | ₦960,358 |
| Saving from the extra five years | ₦1,380 a month |
At 32%, the loan is almost entirely interest. Stretching the repayment period barely touches the monthly figure, because you are not paying down much principal in the early years at all.
Over 25 years at 32%, a ₦36 million loan costs roughly ₦288 million in total repayments. The term is long; the relief is not.
So what would actually make housing affordable?
The rate. Nothing else on the table moves the number as much. At 6%, the same ₦36 million costs ₦232,000 a month; at 32%, ₦960,000. The deposit was never the binding constraint for most Lagos buyers – the interest rate is.
The scheme could work in one of two ways, and the announcement does not say which:
A subsidised rate – the state carries the difference between the market rate and a single-digit rate, as the National Housing Fund does at 6%. That would transform the numbers above.
A market rate with a longer term – which, as shown, changes almost nothing at 27–32%.
Until the rate is named, the 25-year figure is a headline rather than an affordability measure.
The delivery record, and the scale of the gap
Hamzat said the current administration had delivered 24 housing estates comprising about 18,000 housing units in eight years.
That is 2,250 units a year. Against Lagos’s housing deficit of 3.3 million units – the state’s own figure, reported on 29 October – closing the gap at that rate would take roughly 1,467 years.
That is arithmetic on the government’s own numbers, not a forecast. It does not make 18,000 homes worthless – they are 18,000 households housed – but a delivery record measured in thousands cannot be presented as a solution to a deficit measured in millions.
What else was promised
He also pledged to enforce the Lagos State Tenancy Law, which limits advance rent to one year, saying landlords should not compel two or three years upfront because “nobody earns three years’ salary in advance.”
That is the same commitment we reported on Monday, and the same caveat applies: the law already exists, and enforcement is the untested part.
On transport, he promised to expand the public bus fleet from 1,000 to 4,000 CNG-powered buses – relevant to housing because transport cost determines how far from the city a household can afford to live.
What a buyer should do with this
Ask for the rate before you plan around the scheme. A 10% deposit and a 25-year term are both details. The rate is the product.
Run your own numbers. Whatever deposit is offered, the monthly payment is what determines whether you can hold the property for 25 years – through job changes, rate changes and naira movements.
Do not commit to a 25-year naira mortgage without asking what happens if rates move. Ask whether the rate is fixed for the full term or reset. A fixed 25-year rate and a variable one are completely different products.
Treat a campaign pledge as a proposal. The election is on 6 February 2027. Nothing announced at a debate is policy until it is funded and legislated.
What is not established
The interest rate, the funding source, the lender, the eligibility criteria, the price band the scheme would cover and the maximum loan are all unstated. No scheme document has been published.
These are campaign pledges made at a debate by a candidate, four months before an election. The 24 estates and 18,000 units are his account of the administration’s record; no project list or completion audit accompanies it.
All repayment figures in this article are arithmetic on the stated deposit, term and market rates. They are not quotations from any lender or from the campaign.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Lagos 25-year mortgage plan?
A proposal by APC candidate Obafemi Hamzat for a mortgage requiring a 10% initial payment with the balance repaid over 25 years. No interest rate has been announced.
How much would a 10% deposit save me?
On a ₦40 million property, ₦8 million upfront compared with a 30% deposit – ₦4 million instead of ₦12 million.
Does a 25-year term make the mortgage cheaper?
Barely, at Nigerian market rates. At 32%, extending from 20 to 25 years saves about ₦1,380 a month, because the payment is almost all interest.
What rate would make it work?
At 6%, a ₦36 million loan over 25 years costs about ₦232,000 a month, against ₦960,000 at 32%.
Last updated: 11 November 2026. The 10% initial payment, 25-year repayment term, the 24 housing estates and approximately 18,000 units over eight years, the tenancy law enforcement pledge and his quotation, the 1,000 to 4,000 CNG bus pledge, the 6 February 2027 election date and the debate details are from TheStar’s report of 8 November 2026 on the Lagos Governorship Debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium at Lekki on Sunday 8 November 2026. Lagos’s 3.3 million unit housing deficit is the state government’s figure, reported 29 October 2026. All deposit, repayment and years-to-close figures are arithmetic on those stated numbers and assumed market rates; they are not lender quotations.
