Ayodele Olalere
Twenty-One years after it created 37 Local Councils Development Areas, LCDA, out of the original 20 local governments,Lagos State government is set to stop conducting elections into the chairmanship of the LCDAs and now opting to appoint administrators for the Councils.
The LCDAs were created during the tenure of Bola Tinubu as governor (now President) of the state and Olusegun Obasanjo as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2003 thereby increasing the number of local governments in Lagos to 57.
The creation of the LCDA pitched the then President Obasanjo against the government of Lagos State with the President ordering Bola Tinubu as governor to revert to the original 20 local governments.
The refusal of the state government to revert resulted in the president withholding the funds meant for the local governments in Lagos till the end of the tenures of the governor.
Since then, the state government have been conducting elections into the chairmanship position of the 37 LCDAs along with the other 20 local governments.
However, strong indications emerged on Thursday that the Lagos State government will no longer conduct elections for its 37 LCDAs.
At a stakeholders meeting held inside the premises of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday, the Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Lasbat Meranda who spoke on behalf of the Speaker, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa, there is a bill to effect the changes in the administration of the 37 LCDAs titled, “A Bill for a Law to Provide for Local Governments System, Establishment and administration and to consolidate all laws on local government administration and connected purposes.”
“The Bill also makes emphasis on creation of 37 Area administrative councils, in addition to the original 20 Local Government listed in the bill, the councils would be headed by area administrative secretaries to be appointed subject to the approval of the House.
“By doing so this bill seeks to bring governance to the remotest part of Lagos whereby we would see modern infrastructural development at the local government level,” she said.