Foundation raises concern over council administration bill

Says LGs can’t be fully autonomous without sources of revenues

A SOCIO-CULTURAL organisation for Lagos State indigenes, the De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, has raised a 22-point observation to the proposed bill currently discussed in the state’s House of Assembly towards amending the law on local council administration.

In a letter dated October 22, 2024 and addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, the group believes that since the Constitution of Nigeria is supreme and the Supreme Court’s decision on any issue of law, especially about the roles of local councils is sacrosanct, there can be no way for local councils to function properly or operate successfully and be fully autonomous without their constitutionally specified roles and sources of revenues.

The Foundation, which raised the point of order during a meeting of its steering committee in Lagos on October 18, 2024, wanted the state and the House of Assembly to go back to what the Constitution says concerning the responsibilities and sources of generating revenues by local councils with holistic address of all the infractions perpetrated and how those constitutional roles of the councils have been infringed upon by the state government, since 1999.

The points include the aspect that reverses the state’s 57 local councils/LCDAs to a 20-local council structure but still seeking new 37 Area Administrative Councils to replace the currently operated LCDAs, each of which will be headed by an Administrative Secretary to be appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the House of Assembly.

However, De Renaissance Patriots could not come to terms with the aspect of the amendment that replaces the 37 unconstitutional LCDAs creation with an impression of reverting to the constitutional 20-Local Government Structure with yet another unconstitutional Area Administrative Councils.