Story by Iyiola Ayomide
The Lagos State House of Assembly has announced that no elections will be held next year for the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, Mr. Okanlawon Sanni, Chairman of the House Committee on Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs, and Rural Development, stated that only the 20 constitutionally recognized local governments would see elections in 2025.
Sanni, who represents Kosofe Constituency II, explained that elections in the LCDAs would require their official listing through a constitutional amendment by the National Assembly. This move follows a recent Supreme Court ruling affirming the autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 local governments.
According to The NewsExtremists’ findings The implication of this new bill if passed into law is that local government election will only hold in 245 Federal INEC-recognized wards out of Lagos’s 521 wards. While the chances are very imaginable that the remaining 276wards would be collapsed into INEC recognized wards for council Chairmen to be democratically elected.
The lawmaker clarified that the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) will oversee elections only for the recognized local governments. Additionally, salaries, allowances, and necessary deductions for local government employees and services will remain a top funding priority.
“Lagos State House of Assembly is repealing the Local Government law 2016 to further support the Supreme Court judgment on the financial autonomy granted the 20 local governments in the state.
“If the new bill before the House (Local Government Administration Bill) is passed, the other 37 LCDAs will henceforth be under the supervision of the constitutionally recognised 20 councils.
“The governor will appoint mayors into each LCDA, subject to confirmation by the House of Assembly and they will be funded by the local government under which it falls.
“The assembly is trying to fashion out a way where the parent local governments and LCDAs will work together without the latter being short-changed.
“The functions of the 37 LCDAs will include every duty of a local government in its area of delineation and any duty assigned to it by any law of the House or executive directives of the governor.
“Also, the LCDAs may also employ their workers as it may consider necessary for optimal execution of its development programmes,” he said.
Addressing misconceptions, Sanni emphasized that the Assembly has no plans to disband the LCDAs, which he noted have contributed significantly to grassroots development. He urged the National Assembly to consider why the LCDAs should gain official local government status.
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