http://www.plotsandhouses.com/Blog.aspx

Nigerian films show us tastefully decorated houses set in enormous expanse of land, embedded among lovely shrubs and manicured carpet grass. It looks the perfect picture but it hides the reality of so many buildings just down the road.

One thing I quickly observed when I moved to Britain was how adept the British are at maintaining important buildings. If a building is derelict, it probably isn’t really important - if it is, they would raise eye-popping sums of money to restore it; the sort of money that would pay for free primary to tertiary education for every Nigerian child.

In time, I discovered that there are also plans in place to preserve residential buildings - at a cost to the residents though. The Local Authority generates funds for repairs and maintenance through what is called service charges. Depending on where a person lives, the idea of paying service charges is an annoying and revolting concept which makes many people lose sight of the intended benefits!

While growing up in Africa, I noted how tight-fisted Shylock landlords were keen to take the rent but not at all keen to maintain the property. It was down to the tenant alone. Even some home owners neglected their own residential property as if it wasn’t theirs; they took no pride whatsoever in maintaining their property. What you would have in both cases is an eye sore and sometimes, a disaster waiting to happen. Some walls leaned dangerously towards passers-by and sometimes entire buildings toppled over just like that. Gbam! No witchcraft involved.

Many properties where I grew up were emblems of selfish and greedy owners; unashamedly, some landlords even had their names emblazoned on the front of the property! As the rent was rising, so also was green alga as it licked the paint off the houses and coated them with infirmities yet to be named.

There is much to rant about rubbish and sewage, a rather irritating blight on African communities. Poor hygiene conditions made science seem like fiction.

Rubbish tends to blow about everywhere!You’d think that landlords would pool resources together to create some method for managing household waste. Let’s not even talk of the decaying rubbish in and around the compound that attracts disgusting flies, vermin and cockroaches. Rubbish worked with smoke to create a caking and blackening effect on floors and walls.

Falling into an open soak-away just attracted a simple ‘pele’ (sorry). The stench and the disgusting spring of death-infested water seeping from it had the same impact on the landlord that a blunt object would have on a dead man. Yet, tenants lived with it because their capacity to complain had been muffled by their inability to afford anywhere better. And, if the landlord lived in that mire too...

Verbal spew over! Where do we go from here?... Follow the link at the top for the rest of the article inclduing my recommendations.

Palace pride

Palace pride is reflected in your attitude towards the care of your property. Each house is capital tied down in bricks and mortar. So, why are so many Nigerian homes in such poor physical and hygienic condition even in well to do areas?

Karis ‘Tunmbi Kayode is a ‘house-proud’ personal performance coach and corporate communications professional. She writes and speaks on a range of topics notably confidence, communication, leadership and personal development. Follow her on Twitter @workplaceglory and find her at http://uk.linkedin.com/in/kariskayode.

If you have an interesting story you'd like to share then email it to us at info@plotsandhouses.com. For the latest properties for sale and rent in Nigeria, visit www.plotsandhouses.com. You can keep in touch by following us on twitter @plotsandhouses, facebook.com/plotsandhouses & pinterest.com/plotsandhouses.