Lagos Assembly proposes law to make LG chairs autonomous

The Lagos State House of Assembly recently held a public hearing on a bill for a law to establish the Local Government Economic Planning and Development Board in Lagos State. Stakeholders across the state gathered at Lateef Jakande Auditorium of the As­sembly to make oral suggestions and submit written memoranda on the bill. WALE AKINOLA reports:

The Lagos State House of Assembly is considering a Bill that would make local governments in the state semi-in­dependent, through a Board that would incorporate comparative economic advantage of the 20 lo­cal councils and 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, of the state.
Speaking at a public hearing for the bill, the Chairman House Committee on Budget and Eco­nomic Planning, Hon. Rotimi Olowo (APC-Shomolu 1), said the bill becomes expedient in the face of Nigeria’s current slim purse and the need for those in govern­ment to explore other means to generate revenue.
He explained that it is time for council chairmen to stop going cap-in-hand looking for money from the governor, adding that there had been a way the coun­cil chairmen met with officials of the state government in the past concerning development in their councils but this bill, when passed, would deepen the passion to work
He said: “We know as it is today, some of the local governments cannot operate until they get their JAAC’s, we cannot continue that way because Nigeria is facing a very hard time. And year in, year out, what is accruable to them from the federation account is on the decline.

“So the local governments must be incorporated into the econom­ic planning of the state in such a manner that they will be able to operate at their uppermost level considering their strength eco­nomically.”
The lawmaker noted that com­parative economic advantage of each local government is essential, stressing that some local govern­ments have better economic ad­vantage over the others and there was need to go in that direction, adding: “Development should not go from top to bottom but the other way, where it was the state government that mostly deter­mines how the local government councils operate should not be al­lowed to continue.
“The situation is challenging. Many of the local government councils can no longer pay their personnel and this cannot contin­ue. They must now be incorporat­ed in such a way that they would be able to perform very well. If La­gos Island is good at fish farming, then let it be. Each will now oper­ate maximally using its economic strength.”
In his overview of the bill, the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade (APC-Ikorodu 1), said it has become the tradition of the House to invite members of the public to delib­erate on a bill before it is passed into law, adding that it would give them an avenue to have their input in the proposed bill.
He said that the law was passed in 1980 and it was reviewed in 2015 by the Law Reform Com­mission, adding that the members later felt that the law does not have the flavors the constitution in­tended.
He noted: “The purpose of this public hearing is to receive in­puts from members of the public, because the House cannot do it alone.
“The intendment of the law is local government and the empha­sis is laid on the local government to get it right. The composition of the board is enlarged to take care of different segments of the state and the duties of the officials were also enlarged.
“There is no provision for the removal of members in the exist­ing law but every drafting must stipulate the removal of members and this is taken care of in this bill because what is not stated in law is not enforceable. The board is enlarged to include governor and chairmen of local government/local council development areas. It will also give traditional rulers a say in the economic activities of their domains because every seg­ment of the local government is reflected in the new board.”
In his contributions, the Com­missioner for Economic Plan­ning and Budget, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, lauded the House for ini­tiating the Bill, but suggested that rather than repeal the existing law, certain sections of the law should be harmonised.
He advised that the proposed 76-member board should be streamlined, saying that “the ex­isting law says that we can coopt any member into the board when the need arises, then we should re-think about the composition of the members of the board. The economic situation in Nigeria generally calls for reflection and we should also re-consider our stand on the composition of the board. The new bill is proposing a situation whereby the state will be paying the members remunera­tion but the economic situation may not give the state the power to pay them. I think we need to at this critically before coming up which such number”.
One of the participants, Adeniyi Adeola, said that the board’s ad­ministrators should be sourced from local councils, because “the Majority Leader has told us that the bill will be from bottom to top as against was is obtainable in the existing law.”
The Bill seeks to create the Local Government Economic Planning and Development Board to in­clude the state governor, Commis­sioners for Economic Planning and Budget, Finance and Local Government Administration and Community Affairs.
Others to be included in the board are the 57 council chairmen in the state, chairman, council of traditional rulers, a representa­tive of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, a representative of the League of Imams and five members of the Community De­velopment Associations, CDAs, from the five divisions of the state to be appointed by the governor.
The Bill as obtained by The AU­THORITY gives the board the power to assess the various needs of each local government and ad­vise on issues of planning develop­ment.
The board is to also to imple­ment and ensure due compliance with guidelines on economic plan­ning and development, encourage local government participation in economic activities of the state, es­pecially where there are compara­tive advantages and establish trade fairs to foster relationship and good neighborliness between the local governments and the state.
One good thing about the bill, according to the Deputy Speaker of the House, Wasiu Sanni-Es­hinlokun, who represented the Speaker, Rt.Hon. Mudasiru Oba­sa, is that only members of the board that do not hold govern­ment office would be entitled to remuneration, because public offi­cers are not entitled to double pay.
He said: “I want to commend the observation of the Commis­sioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Ashade, but I want to say that the proposed bill is in tandem with the provision of the constitution. We have also delib­erated on the composition of the board. If we want to do planning, we must involve people, then, be­cause we have 57 council chair­men, automatically each local government must be represented. The remuneration of the mem­bers must be for only few mem­bers because some of them like chairmen have already been taken care of by the state.”