The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, passed for a second reading a bill seeking to recognise the 37 Local Development Area Councils (LCDA) of Lagos State as full-fledged Local Government (LG) Areas.
If this proposal scales the legislative hurdle, Lagos, which currently has 20 LGs, will now have 57 LGs, pushing the total number of LGs in the country from 774 to 811.
The 37 Lagos LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu when he was the Lagos State governor between 1999 and 2007.
The creation of the LCDAs brought Tinubu into a confrontation with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who then seized Lagos State’s federal allocations.
The bill seeking the conversion of the 37 LCDAs to full-fledged LGs was jointly sponsored by the member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, Lagos State, Abiodun Faleke, and 21 other lawmakers.
The bill seeks to alter the Constitution to “Allow for the accommodation of the 37 Development Area Councils of Lagos State to operate as full-fledged Local Government Areas, to bring the total of 57 numbers of Local Government Areas in Lagos State and that of the Federation to eight hundred and eleven (811) numbers.”
Clause 3 of the proposed bill also seeks to alter the First Schedule – Section 3, Part 1, Item 24 (Lagos State Local Government Areas) “State – Lagos Capital City – Ikeja, Agege, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Badagary, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ibeju-Lekki, Ifako-Ajaye, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Mushin, Ojo, Oshodi-lsolo, Shomolu, Surulere.
The lawmakers proposed in Clause 4 the alteration of the First Schedule – Section 3, Part 1, Item 24 (Lagos State Local Government Areas), “State – Lagos Capital City – Ikeja; Agege, Orile-Agege, Ajeromi, Ifelodun, Alimosho, Agbado, Oke-Odo, Ayobo-Ipaja, Egbe-Idimu, Igando-Ikotun, Mosan-Okunola, Amuwo-Odofin, Oriade, Apapa, Apapa-Iganmu, Badagary, Badagary West, Olorunda, Epe, Eredo, Kosi-Ejinrin, Eti-Osa East, Eu-Osa West, Iru Victoria Island, Ikoyi-Obalande, Ibeju, Lekki, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ojokoro, Ikeja, Ojodu, Onigbongbon, Ikorodu, Ikorodu North, Ikorodu West, Imota, Ijede, Igbogbo-Baiyeku, Kosofe, Ikosi-Isheri, Agboyi-Ketu, Lagos Island West, Lagos Island East, Lagos Mainland, Yaba, Mushin, Odi-Olowo, Ojo, Oto Awori, Iba, Shomolu, Bariga, Oshodi, Ejigbo, Isolo, Surulere, Coker Aguda, Itire-Ikate.”
As provided in the explanatory memorandum, the bill seeks to convert the 37 Development Area Councils of Lagos State to operate as full-fledged Local Government Areas captured in the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
