LCDAs won’t be scrapped, Lagos Assembly assures

• Suspension of chairman an aberration to S’Court’s judgment, says Banire
• Don’t tamper with LCDAs, group tells House

Lagos State House of Assembly has said that there are no plans to scrap the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state. The Speaker, Dr Mudashiru Obasa, represented by the Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, gave the assurance, yesterday, during the second public hearing on the bill to amend the local council administration law of the state. He said: “The LCDAs have come to stay and they will remain so by the special grace of God. Nobody is killing the LCDAs.”

Meanwhile, a lawyer and activist, MuizBanire, has condemned the suspension of the council chairman, saying that it is an aberration to the Supreme Court’s judgment.

However, former Deputy Speaker of the House, Kolawole Taiwo, said: “The constitution gives power to the State House of Assembly to create local councils. The law has been tested as our LCDAs have been in existence but only not listed. Nobody can say that the law is not in existence.”

Meanwhile, an advocacy group, the Lagos People’s Assembly, has called on the House not to tamper with the existing 37 LCDAs in the state. The group made the call during a peaceful protest at the Assembly Complex in Ikeja, yesterday.

Deputy Speaker of the group, Kola Emmanuel, who spoke on behalf of other protesters, urged the Assembly not to scrap the LCDAs created by President Bola Tinubu when he was governor of the state. Emmanuel condemned the suspension of a council chairman and urged the Assembly not to take over the responsibilities of the councils.