Lagos council chairmen, under the aegis of Conference 57, have urged the Lagos State House of Assembly to reconsider the creation of Area Administrative Councils in replacement of Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the proposed Local Government Administration Bill.
 
The general secretary of Conference 57, Rasaq Ajala, made the call in an interview with journalists on Friday on the sidelines of a public hearing organised by the Assembly in Ikeja.
 
The bill is titled “A bill for a law to provide for local government’s system, establishment and administration and to consolidate all laws on local government administration and connected purposes.
 
The assembly on Thursday, during a public hearing, said the bill was being considered to replace the current 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) with Area Administrative Councils in the state.
 
Mr Ajala, who is the executive chairman Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye LCDA in the state, said the assembly should reconsider its proposal to replace the present local council development area with the area administrative council.
 
The council chairman said the assembly and the executive should, rather, channel all energy and resources into ensuring that the 37 LCDAs were listed in the constitution.
 
He noted that while waiting for the listing of the 37, the executive and the assembly should continue to maintain the present 57 local government structures.
 
Mr Ajala noted that the grassroots development the people of the state were enjoying today in the state was made possible because of the additional 37 LCDAs.
 
“The position of the Conference 57 on the issue is very clear: the creation of the 37 LCDAs is a product of the Constitution and to that extent, the Assembly should allow it to stay.
 
“You will recall that when these Local Council Development Areas were created by President Bola Tinubu, when he was the governor of Lagos State, the state was taken to court. We dragged the matter to the Supreme Court.
 
“The pronouncement of the Supreme Court then was very clear. They have given validity. They believe that the process we took was legal.
 
“So to that extent, we believe that we have not done anything that is unconstitutional by creating the 37.
 
“We’ve not done anything that is illegal and this is a system that has been working for years,” he said.
 
Mr Ajala said Conference 57 strongly believed that the House was doing well in ensuring the state remained the number one state in the country.
 
The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, said the bill aims to create Area Administrative Councils in addition to the original 20 local governments listed in the bill.
 
Mr Obasa, represented by the deputy speaker, Mojisola Meranda, said the councils would be headed by appointed Area Administrative Secretaries, subject to the approval of the House.
 
The speaker said the ultimate objective of the bill is to bring governance to all parts of the state.
 
(NAN)