Lawmakers move to make formal identification compulsory for renting apartments in Abuja

The Senate on Tuesday resolved to initiate legislation requiring tenants in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to present valid means of identification before renting apartments as part of efforts to curb criminal activities.

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The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, directed the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, to draft the bill for consideration by the National Assembly.

Mr Akpabio gave the directive during the plenary while lawmakers were debating a report by the Senate committees on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations; Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters; Foreign Affairs; and Special Duties on the need to protect Nigerians from being trafficked to Libya for slavery.

The report was presented by Aniekan Bassey, chair of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.

Mr Akpabio expressed concern that many property owners rent out their properties to strangers without obtaining adequate information about their identities, occupations and other relevant details.

He argued that the lack of proper documentation makes it difficult for security agencies to trace suspects when crimes are committed, allowing perpetrators to escape without leaving a clear trail.

“A lot of people just give their properties to strangers. They don’t even have any papers to know where they come from. In some instances, the phone number that is used in renting the property does not even belong to the occupant of the house. So when something happens, the person will escape and then leave no trace,” he said.

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The Senate President urged Mr Bamidele to consider legislation that would strengthen tenancy regulations and make landlords more accountable for verifying prospective tenants’ identities.

“People enter people’s properties with very nefarious intentions and, at the end of the day, they will just commit some crimes, traffic people’s children and make money while living in the house itself. It is something that we must tighten the laws on tenancy,” he said.

Mr Akpabio proposed adopting an approach similar to the banking sector’s Know Your Customer (KYC) policy, which requires financial institutions to verify customers’ identities.

“As you know in the bank, they say, know your customer; this one we can say, know your tenants. Let’s make the necessary law for the FCT, for instance. We can enact an Act for the FCT that says know your tenants so that nobody will come and live in the house and perpetrate crime,” he said.

He said the proposed legislation could also cover the rental of shops and other commercial spaces, arguing that inadequate identity verification could expose occupants and business owners to criminal attacks.

Mr Akpabio said people renting shops should provide verifiable identification, including a driver’s licence or international passport, to help security agencies trace them if they are implicated in criminal activities.

He said the lack of reliable tenant information could leave property owners unable to identify or help locate people who used their premises to commit crimes.

“And then even those that are going to do shoplets, we can use that opportunity to regulate shoplets because people go into secluded environments and then do shoplets, and then they move in and they rob them in the night and escape.

“So people who want to do shoplifting should have clear identities; you should be able to show either a driver’s licence or an international passport and other means of identification so that if you stay in somebody’s property and then you go and commit a crime, when they trace and come there and find out that this was where you live, the owner of the property may not even have an idea of who you were.”

Akpabio’s experience as governor

To support his argument, Mr Akpabio recalled measures his administration introduced to tackle kidnapping when he was governor of Akwa Ibom State.

He said his government prescribed the death penalty for kidnapping and introduced measures involving the destruction of property used as hideouts by criminals.

The Senate President noted that the measures encouraged landlords to monitor activities on their premises and report suspicious behaviour for fear of losing them.

He said similar measures could help deter criminals from using rented apartments and commercial premises as bases for criminal activities.

How the proposed law could affect Abuja’s rental market

If enacted as envisaged by the Senate President, the proposed legislation would require landlords in the FCT to verify prospective tenants’ identities before letting out their property.

The proposal is intended to help security agencies trace people suspected of committing crimes from their residential addresses and discourage criminals from using rented apartments and commercial premises as hideouts.

However, its effectiveness would depend on the legislation’s details, including how identities would be verified, what records landlords would be required to keep, and how compliance would be monitored.

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If enacted, the law could make it easier for investigators to establish the identities of tenants linked to rented property. It could also impose additional responsibilities on landlords and property agents, potentially requiring them to retain identification records and provide relevant information to authorised authorities when legally required.

The proposal could, however, raise concerns about privacy, the security of tenants’ personal information and the possibility of landlords using the requirement to discriminate against prospective tenants or deny accommodation to people who cannot readily provide the prescribed documents.

The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 provides a framework for lawful, secure handling of personal information. Any system requiring landlords to collect and retain tenants’ identification details would need to comply with applicable data protection obligations.

The proposal remains in the drafting stage, based on the proceedings described by the Senate President. It would need to go through the legislative process before becoming law.