By S. O. K. Shillings Esq
Following the Supreme Court judgment declaring Local Governments as financially autonomous, there is need for adjustments. And Lagos State that started the ‘Local Council Development Area’ idea is blazing the trail once again.
Let us refresh our minds on the status quo. Lagos State started the process of creating new Local Governments during the tenure of Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu as Governor. At the critical stage of adoption by the National Assembly, the exercise failed as it should.
If Lagos was allowed to create 57 Local Governments, what would stop Kano that had 44 from raising its number to 100+? It would be chaotic and there would be a heavy burden on the Federal Government and state resources. There was therefore the need to revert back to the 20.
Lagos State towed the path of contumacy by refusing to dissolve them. Nay, it went to court. The court in its ruling noted that the exercise (of creating new Local Governments by Lagos State) was ‘inchoate’. By that finding, Lagos State was strengthened to name the new Local Governments as Local Council Development Areas (37 of them). They have been inchoate since and there is no hope of manifesting as a legal entity.
The Federal Government rightly seized the allocation to the LGs in Lagos State because it had become an illegal institution. But the Governor and subsequent governments hung to the word ‘inchoate’ and insisted on running the LCDAs at per with the LGs and in fact conducted elections for their administrators. Political expediency caused the lifting of the seizure. Other states also adopted the mode.
At first, the action of the FG was branded as victimisation by opposition party. But for 8 years of President Buhari of the APC, the issue was not revisited. Then came the Jagaban Borgu. It would be a monumental embarrassment to pursue such cause. The most reasonable thing to do was to dissolve the illegal structure.
Mr. President did not hesitate in instructing his Attorney General to look into the books and do the needful. The Hon. AGF went to court against the Governors, citing provisions of the Constitution that had always been there to convince the court that the LGs are constitutionally empowered to have financial autonomy. In effect, they are not tied to the apron strings of the Governors.
Today, there are 774 LGs in Nigeria. The Hon. Attorney General of Lagos State must have advised the House of Assembly so. In a polity where the law rules, the LCDAs ought to be dissolved immediately after the Supreme Court judgment. But the LAHA is still trying to check the books if something could be scooped to sustain them. Contributors at the public hearing in October espoused the daunting futility even though Lagos State could do with more LGs.
The proposed amended LG Law acknowledged that there will be election into 20 LGs. After this, then some abracadabra. The first proposed Amendment Bill suggested that there would be Council Offices (a transformation of the LCDAs). That was a faux pas and the parliamentarians saw through it early enough to call for a public hearing.
The second propositions provided for Area Administrative Councils AACs (still those 37 LCDAs) which will have all the duties of a Local Government Council to be headed by Area Administrative Secretaries who will be appointed by the Governor. There will be Supervisors and councillors who will be chosen by the political party. And like in the Land Use Charge Law, the LGs may delegate their responsibilities to an AAC. The Chairman may be removed after the concurrent resolutions of the Council and LAHA and the Governor will be informed.
Let us just address the fundamentals.
1. We must appreciate that whenever the law prescribes the choosing of an executive by election, that executive is only responsible to the people who elected him or those elected as a parliament to exercise their power.
2. A place where an elected official governs cannot accommodate a selected official to exercise same powers.
3. Creation of tiers of government is a matter for the Constitution and not the whims and caprices of another tier of government.
4. An elected government cannot delegate its powers to another government. It is a breach of the treaty of its election.
By necessary implication therefore:
1. The Lagos State Government cannot create a LG less still appoint officials for it. In fact, it cannot make laws for their operation or have a hand in appointment of its officials or discipline.
2. The creation of AACs and choosing officials for them can be likened to the FG creating provinces in each state and appointing Mayors or the likes for them with equal authority as Governor.
3. In reality, the LCDAs are dead and should not be revived. Why?:
1. It has been a conduit through which the Governors and their cronies syphoned public funds by usurping the LGs.
2. It has been illegality upon illegality and abuse of power.
3. The idea of taking government to the ‘grassroot’ is defeated with handicapped LGs whose functions have been delegated. One of the LGs does not have a Secretariat up to this time after 2 decades of existence. Is that the government that will provide primary health care?
4. The man who brought it is tired of it. Let us stop the charade.
Can we say that Lagos State does not need more LGs?
I am a proponent of prudence in governance and naturally opposed to the proliferation of governments. But when we consider the population explosion in the state and some lopsidedness including the shortchange of my Ikorodu Division which was one when there were 5, 8 and 20 but 2 in 1980 when there were 23 and now has 6 LCDAs out of the 57 evincing that it is more than a tenth of the state yet maintaining one; a few more will be desirable under the right circumstances. Then what should we do?
In my view, there are two options open to Lagos State.
1. Ordinarily, LG administration should not be a direct government. It should be created by States according to their needs and resources under constitutional guidelines.
This is one of the anomalies of a constitution laid down by the military with all inherent shenanigans of an heterogenous country like ours.
Lagos State should be part of the drive for a whole hog constitutional amendment process where there will be a constitutional conference to provide a proper constitution and rid the 1999 edition of its anomalies including the anomaly of its birth. With this, the issue of creation of LGs will be on the burner and duly addressed.
Unfortunately, the politicians are wary of such process that may uproot them or become a charge on the current distribution of resources that has made ogres of the Governors. Then, therefore, we will live with the anomalies and pretend they are right without seeking cornerkicks as substitute for penalties.
2. Lagos State Government is most unserious with the issue of special status for the State. The last I heard about it was when Senator Oluremi Tinubu (as she then was) moved the motion on the floor of the Senate at a time when she was at loggerhead with the leadership. With due respect, it was boring and lacklustre. It was dead on arrival.
I recall writing to Governor Ambode about this issue advising that it should be a project to be seriously advertised with videos, skits and billboards. Well articulated with lobbying dinners and meetings with several institutions and the leadership of all tribes living in Lagos. Then, the train moves to governments of other states, National Assembly caucuses, special stakeholders and the Presidency. The crescendo will be a presentation on the floor of the National Assembly with funfare and the presence of the delegation of the Government and people of Lagos State including traditional rulers and a few revered indigenes and citizens of Lagos State to be led by the Governor.
Then, the demand may include a special dispensation to have more LGs in Lagos State.
I conclude with the fact that LCDAs are unconstitutional and must not exist by whatever name called.
Today 24/11/24 is the 50th anniversary of the demise of my beloved father.
Adieu Rasaki Dada-Olowoshile
S. O. K. Shillings Esq., former Chairman NBA Ikorodu, writes from Ikorodu.
