The House of Representatives has passed a bill for a second reading on Wednesday that seeks to upgrade the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of Lagos State to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs).
If passed into law, this proposal will increase the number of Local Government Areas in Lagos from 20 to 57, thereby raising the total number of LGAs in Nigeria from 774 to 811.
The 37 LCDAs were initially created by then-Governor Bola Tinubu between 1999 and 2007, leading to a long-standing controversy with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who seized Lagos State’s federal allocations in protest. This latest legislative effort aims to formally recognize these councils as full LGAs.
The bill, jointly sponsored by Abiodun Faleke, the member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, and 21 other lawmakers, seeks to amend the Nigerian Constitution to accommodate the 37 LCDAs as full LGAs in Lagos State.The proposed changes will reflect this recognition in the First Schedule – Section 3, Part 1, Item 24 of the Constitution.
The bill also includes an extensive list of the 37 councils, some of which are: Ikeja, Agege, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ifako-Ajaye, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Island, Mushin, Ojo, Oshodi-Isolo, Shomolu, and Surulere. These councils will be officially recognized as full-fledged LGAs if the bill passes through further legislative processes.
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The proposed alteration has the potential to significantly impact the political and administrative structure of Lagos State, increasing local governance capacity and potentially improving the delivery of services to the state’s growing population.
