The House of Representatives is considering the upgrade of the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The bill, sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers, successfully passed its second reading in the Green Chamber on Wednesday.
If enacted, this constitutional amendment would increase the number of LGAs in Lagos from 20 to 57.
The proposed legislation is based on the necessity to align Lagos’ administrative structure with its burgeoning population.
The sponsors argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people.
The 37 LCDAs were established by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 during his tenure as governor of Lagos State.
However, these LCDAs are not recognised within the framework of the 1999 Constitution, which only acknowledges the 20 existing LGAs in the state.
In 2004, the administration of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld LGA allocations for Lagos, contending that the creation of LCDAs was unconstitutional.
Lagos challenged Obasanjo’s decision in court. The Supreme Court ruled that while the state has the authority to create LCDAs, these entities would remain administrative units until the National Assembly amends the constitution to grant them LGA status.
In recent months, the Lagos House of Assembly has made attempts to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.
This initiative follows the Supreme Court’s ruling granting financial autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 LGAs.
The court determined that only democratically elected councils are eligible to access federal funds.
