President Bola Tinubu has been urged to push for the recognition of the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LDCAs) as full fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Despite Lagos having an estimated population of about 23 million people, the state has just 20 LGAs.
In 2003, Tinubu then governor of Lagos, created the 37 LCDAs, but they are yet to be recognized by the Federal Government.
The LCDAs include Agbado/Oke-Odo, Agboyi/Ketu, Agege, Ajeromi, Alimosho, Apapa, Apapa-Iganmu, Ayobo/Ipaja, Badagry West, Badagry, Bariga, Coker Aguda, Egbe Idimu, Ejigbo, Epe, Eti-Osa East, Eti-Osa West, Iba, Odi Olowo/Ojuwoye, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ifelodun, Igando/Ikotun, Igbogbo/Bayeku, Itire Ikate, and Kosofe, among others.
Speaking with THE WHISTLER on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Mr. Debo Adeniran, said converting the LCDAs to full fledged LGAs would bring government closer to the people.
Being the most populous state in Nigeria and also the economic nerve centre of the country, Lagos has been seeking to be given Special Status. Adeniran called on the president to convince the National Assembly to make the LCDAs constitutional, adding that it would give the people a sense of belonging.
“”What I believe that the incumbent president will do, is to ensure that the creation of Local Governments that the past government since the days of (former president Olusegun) Obasanjo described as inchoate, will make it constitutional; will do everything and convince the National Assembly to make such thing constitutional,” the CACOL boss said.
“Once those 37 LCDAS are converted to full fledged Local Governments, government will come directly to the grassroot and the grassroot will have sense of belonging,” he added.
Reacting to the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, he expressed pessimism that the newly inaugurated Assembly could become another 9th Assembly, which he described as more or less a rubber stamp to the executive.
He, however, called on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media to be vigilant, so as to keep the legislators of the 10th Assembly on their toes.
“We’re likely going to see a legislature that is going to more or less rubber stamp whatever executive push to them, in the mode of the 9th Assembly.
“We need a legislature that will actually play their oversight functions on MDAs with all sincerity without inputting political interest in their work and the outcome of such work; who would be able to look at the executive arm eyeball to eyeball,” Adeniran said.
“Our vigilance will put our representatives on their toes. Every member of the House of Representatives and every senator would be regularly asked questions about their stewardship in the National Assembly. Once we do that, and we do it with all sincerity of purpose, then it would be difficult for them to serv as rubber stamp. If the people don’t want a policy to scale through, we will start the legislative work from our constituencies and ensure that we push it to our representatives at the National Assembly, and follow it up to ensure that they do not change the voice of the people when they get there. That’s the only way we can have a vibrant National Assembly that will represent the will and aspirations of the Nigerian people,” he noted.