On Monday, Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, addressed the controversy regarding the status of local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state.
Last Thursday, The PUNCH reported that the assembly was considering a bill to replace the 37 existing LCDAs with Area Administrative Councils.
This proposal was included in a Bill for a Law to provide for the Local Government System, Establishment and Administration, and to consolidate all laws related to local government administration, which had its first public hearing on Thursday.
However, on Monday, the assembly agreed to hold an additional public hearing on the bill.
It also summoned the state Attorney-General, Lawal Pedro, to provide clarification on the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding financial autonomy for local governments.
The decisions were made during a meeting led by Obasa on Monday.
Obasa stated that the assessment of the LG Administration law was aimed at reinforcing the LCDAs, not abolishing them.
“I agree on the need for us to schedule a second allotted day for the public hearing,” the Speaker said while adding that he had been inundated with calls by people who wanted to know the fate of the LCDAs.
“We are not scrapping the LDCAs. Rather, what we are trying to do is to look at the recent Supreme Court judgement in terms of Lagos and local governments’ joint account and fashion out a way where the parent local governments and the LDCAs work together without the LDCAs being shortchanged,” he added.
The Speaker also acknowledged the importance of progressing toward the official recognition of the LCDAs by the National Assembly.
“Kano has 44 local governments and out of Kano, Jigawa was created and has 27,” he said as he suggested a review of the revenue-sharing formula by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
The Chairman of the Local Government Committee, Sanni Okanlawon, reported on the public hearing that had been previously held by the committee, noting that many of the invited stakeholders were unable to attend.
He pointed out that the unfavourable weather on that day contributed to the low turnout and requested that the House approve an additional day for the event.
In support of Okanlawon’s appeal, his associate, Ladi Ajomale, remarked: “Many individuals are expressing confusion about the situation, and there are suggestions that the government might be attempting to eliminate certain individuals from the local government framework.”
He urged for improved communication and cooperation with the National Assembly to help the upper chamber grasp the reasons for classifying the LDCAs as official local governments.
Desmond Elliot, representing Surulere Constituency 1, emphasized that given Lagos’s population size and its economic significance to Nigeria, it is essential to advocate for the inclusion of the LCDAs.
“Anambra State has 21 local governments and it is nowhere close to what Lagos has in terms of resources, economic importance and dividends of democracy,” he said.
The PUNCH
