An advocacy group, the Lagos People’s Assembly, has called on the Lagos State House of Assembly not to tamper with the existing 37 local council development areas in the state.

The group made the call during a peaceful protest at the Assembly in Ikeja on Thursday

A bill to restructure local government administration is currently before the Assembly.

The bill is titled “Bill for a Law to Provide for the Local Government System, Establishment, and Administration, and to Consolidate All Laws on Local Government Administration.

The bill proposes replacement of the existing 37 LCDAs, created during the administration of President Bola Tinubu as governor of the state, with Area Administrative Councils.

The bill proposes the creation of 37 Area Administrative Councils, which will serve under the 20 LGAs recognised by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.

These administrative councils, to be headed by Area Administrative Secretaries appointed by the governor, will be funded by the respective LGAs they serve under.

The councils will manage local matters and retain rights, obligations, and liabilities from their previous status as LCDAs.

The group, during the protest, urged the Assembly not to carry out any restructuring that could destroy grassroots governance.

Protesting members of the group carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Lagos Assembly; Do not kill our LCDAs”; “Preservation of our Local Governments: Protect Our Right to Self-Governance,” ”Obasa, Don’t kill our LCDAS,” and others.

The group had on October 7 staged a similar protest at the  Assembly to call on lawmakers not to take any action capable of undermining local government autonomy in the state.

It said that the practice of lawmakers querying, sanctioning, and suspending local government administrators was in total contradiction to the local government’s autonomy.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Kola Emmanuel said that the Lagos Assembly should not scrap the 37 LCDAs created by President Bola Tinubu, when he was governor of the state.

Mr Emmanuel, the Deputy Speaker of the group, said that Mr Tinubu, who created the LCDAs, had the foresight of bringing government closer to the people.

According to him, the lawmakers are voted for by the people, and they should not do anything contrary to what the people want at the grassroots.

“We were here the first time to sound the note of warning and to call the Assembly to order.

“You will agree with me that the struggle for local government autonomy has been on for the past 21 years in Lagos State. You will agree with me that our leader, President Tinubu, initiated the LCDAs when he felt that  state is too big for us to have only 20 local governments

“Lagos Assembly is trying to minimise these LCDAs that our father, our leaders, have laboured for over the years to bring development to the people with this bill. We have come here to say that the people of Lagos will not allow that,” Mr Emmanuel said.

The activist added that the Assembly was beginning to exert undue control over the local government in the state

He said that the Assembly should not take over the responsibilities of the councils.

Mr Emmanuel said that the suspension of a local government chairman recently by the Assembly was another attack on the constitution.

“We feel that each LG also has members of its own assembly (councillors) who should deal with any erring chairman in any way they must have found him wanting. We are saying local government is the only way of bringing development to the grassroots and to the common man. The current Lagos Assembly should not be a tool against bringing good governance to the people of Lagos,” Mr Emmanuel said.

Responding on behalf of the Lagos Assembly, Lukman Olumoh, the Chairman, Lagos Assembly Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, assured the group that the House would never do anything against the people and the constitution.

Mr Olumoh, representing Ajeromi Ifelodun Constituency I, said, “We will not go against the electorate who have brought us here. We will not do anything outside the law.

“We can assure you that we will not go outside the law to do anything that would be against the wishes of Lagos residents and Nigerians in general. That is an assurance from the leadership of the House. We just want us to be very educated about what is going on in the country.”

Following the controversy that erupted after the first public hearing on the bill, the Assembly again held another public hearing on the same bill on Thursday. 

(NAN)