Rising appeal of property by Abuja’s Jabi Lake

Between 2004 and 2005 in Jabi, a block of six uncompleted flats on a plot area of about 1, 200 square metres, cost N14 million at purchase price. In 2016 the same kind of property is priced at N180 million. This is an increase of about 130 per cent only ten years after.
“Jabi is my favourite part of Abuja. It is the best-laid-out part of town as far as I am concerned. The lake is so beautiful, especially at night.” This is a popular expression by many Abuja residents even when they don’t live in Jabi. Many of them patronise the lakeside area for several purposes from exercising to hosting weddings, birthdays, boat rides and other activities. This gives them a somewhat satisfying feel of close relations with this now highbrow district.
For them, and residents, Jabi Lake is a version of life by the seaside. Whereas original human settlements around the world started along riversides or lakes, in Abuja early inhabitants of the city centre were drawn to Garki, Asokoro, Wuse and Maitama. Then, all of a sudden Jabi became hot.
Umar Umar, a Jabi resident living off Alex Ekwueme Way, on which a part of the Jabi Lake sits, said in the late 1990s to early 2000s, it really wasn’t prestigious to live in this part of town. But with his growing family at the time, the space around the lake was room for them to play in. “The posh places at the time were Asokoro, Maitama and Wuse 2. It was when El-Rufai owned property around here that it opened up and people considered it highbrow,” he said.
Umar added that: “When I began living here about 13 years ago, my rent was N150,000 for the three bedroom bungalow I occupied and property like mine didn’t sell for more than three to five million naira. But now, the prices are in hundreds of millions.”
Charles Ebiai, Assistant National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) told Daily Trust that he arrived Abuja in 1992 and there was nothing like Jabi at the time. “There was only one road that led directly to Life Camp which had only the minister’s house and the club in the area. The place was generally undeveloped,” he said.
Corroborating Umar’s narrative, Ebiai said: “It wasn’t until the 2000s before development began in Jabi. And even then it was nothing until El-Rufai became minister. Immediately he signified interest in the place and people got to know he had a house there and some other top notch people too, a lot of them started buying and speculation spiked.”
Ebiai, who purchased the uncompleted block of flats, explained that although Jabi isn’t big, the lake was a major appeal for many people. “It is one of the artificial lakes created, like the Lower Usuma Dam. It was created as a booster to increase the water supply in Abuja and its environs. Before this, there was only a small tributary of water. The construction of the lake had begun as at 1992.”
The general perception is that Jabi property cost more than those in Maitama which is considered Abuja’s most expensive district. To this, Ebiai said there are a yes and a no answer. “Yes in the sense that Jabi plots are scarce because the area is small and there are no new places to build there. Because the area was small and people didn’t see plots to buy, the prices kept going up.”
“The no answer is that now that the other side of Jabi is opening up towards Mbora, people are considering other alternatives and moving in that direction. That has also helped decongest the Jabi Lake area,” he explained.
Another factor which some may consider has helped this process is the coming of the Jabi Mall. A lot of people are likely to leave the area due to traffic congestion. With more and more people preferring to do their shopping in the mall, the area is likely to get noisier.
A resident living in a mini-estate directly overlooking the premises of the Mall – who simply gave her name as Ibironke – said that when she moved into the area, a major attraction was the fact that from her veranda she could look at the lake. “Back then, at anytime of the day, the view was beautiful and calming to look at. I don’t enjoy it so much now, because the mall blocks my view. But the worst are the several horns blaring and the occasional screams and yelling from drivers and passersby. Even food vendors now set shop by our fences to get market from construction workers and the likes,” she lamented.
Regardless of how discouraging this might seem, it isn’t scary enough to dissuade a potential resident like Aisha Bala, who said, “I will still live there if I have the money. It is the most attractive part of Abuja as far as I am concerned. That’s why I come here six days a week to exercise or simply have picnic.”