‘NASS should enlist Lagos 37 LCDAs to LGAs’
Former Chairman of Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos, Alhaji Abdur Rasheed Abiodun Mafe, has made a passionate appeal to the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives to commence the listing of the 37 LCDAs in Lagos State into a full-fledged local governments.
The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
Mafe, the Chairman of the League of Former Lagos State Council Chairmen, said it is necessary that the National Assembly quickly completes the process of giving the LCDAs legal authority to operate as Local governments.
He said: The councils, which received the Supreme Court’s blessing via a ruling in which they were pronounced “inchoate” until they get listed in the constitution, have since passed all other necessary hurdles and are only waiting to be enlisted alongside other 774 local governments by the National Assembly.”Related News
According to him, “these new councils have operated for 21 years alongside the 20 main councils, meeting the needs of their communities and getting governance closer to the people. Together, the 57 councils have brought unprecedented physical and structural developments to the state, particularly in the areas of education, primary health care, environment, community development and market. Our people in Lagos have benefited immensely from these new councils which have lived up to expectation.
“We are using this medium to appeal to the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House of Reps Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas to use their good offices to help complete the listing of these councils so that they can continue to render good services to our people as they have done in the last two decades.”
With a population of over 22 million people (more than ten percent of the country’s population), Mafe said 20 local governments are not enough for Lagos State.
The former council chief argued that if Kano state had 44 local government, with less population compare to Lagos state, it would be just on the part of the National Assembly to increase the number of local governments in Lagos State.
