By Felix Kuyinu
The Lagos State House of Assembly is set to hold the second public hearing of the Local Government Administration Bill.
The lawmakers has also invited the state’s Attorney-General and Commisioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro, SAN, for interpretation of the financial autonomy granted to the council areas by the Supreme Court.
During a plenary at the legislative complex in Ikeja on Monday, Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, said that the rulling by the apex court needs to be reviewed. He also mentioned that the bill isn’t aimed at scrapping the LCDAs but to further strengthen their capabilities.
Obasa who presided over the plenary said: “I agree on the need for us to schedule a second allotted day for the public hearing.
“This has been inundated with calls by people who wanted to know the fate of the LCDAs.
“We are not scrapping the LDCAs. Rather, what we are trying to do is to look at the recent Supreme Court judgement in terms of Lagos and local governments joint account and fashion out a way where the parent local governments and the LDCAs can work together without the LDCAs shortchanged.
“There is also a need to work for the formal listing of the LCDAs by the National Assembly. So a review of the revenue sharing formula by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission is very necessary.
The House Committee on Local Government Matters disclosed that a lot of people have been unable to understand the proposed bill.
The members called for a liaison and better collaboration with the National Assembly with the aim of making the legislative arm understand why the LDCAs should be listed as substantive local governments.
The legislators also noted that due to the heterogeneous nature of the state and it’s importance to Nigeria, it is imperative to work for the listing of the LCDAs.
