There are strong indications that the on-going restructuring and reforms in the Lagos State Civil Service will soon be extended to the 20 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs in the state.Presently, the affairs of the councils are being managed by Executive secretaries appointed in the twilight of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration to replace the former chairmen after the expiration of their tenure, pending the conduct of fresh election.

The implication of this is that the 57 executive secretaries may be replaced by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State in order to conduct a credible election into the offices, considering the fact that Ambode’s reforms have been characterized by several replacements of heads of ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs.

It is instructive to note that Ambode, at a recent public function, had pledged to embark on local government reforms with the aim of making the 57 councils more responsive to the needs of the people.

The governor, who made the remarks during a parley with members of the various Community Development Associations, CDAs, Community Development Councils, CDC and other stakeholders, said the intention of his administration was to give governance back to the people in line with his objective of running an all-inclusive government.

Inclusive government

He said his administration’s commitment to make community governance the spring board for economic and social development in the state, prompted the establishment of a Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs which has thus placed community development in the heart of its policy formation.

The career civil servant governor, upon assumption of office, set up a Local Government Reform Committee headed by Mr. Nurudeen Adeyinka Ojora-Adejiyan in a bid to reposition the councils’ system for better service delivery and ensure even development and synergy in governance in the State.

The committee, after deliberations, urged the state government to cascade major reforms of the state public service to the local government level. The committee was mandated to examine the structure and current practice of local government administration in the state, identify factors militating against optimum performance and quality service delivery by local governments and examine the modalities for instituting inter service exchange of staff, knowledge and skills between the state and local government services.

In his comment at the  presentation of the report to the Head of Service, Mrs Folashade Jaji, Ojora-Adejiyan disclosed that the committee made very starling findings that revealed that local government system had become a shadow of itself, grappling with structural, funding and administrative problems.

The committee therefore, called for a review of local government administration law and other laws regulating the operations of local government in the state. It also called for a functional template to assess the performance of local governments based on available resources and context of operations to be evolved for local government system.

The committee also discovered that there was inadequate community participation characterized by seeming disconnection between the communities and managements of local government which has created a huge service gap with on adverse effect on its service delivery capacity to the people.

Execution of policies

“We however, recommend that local governments should as a matter of policy involve community development associations and other stakeholders from the planning to execution of policies and projects, thus ensuring that the yearnings and aspirations of the people are met the committee chairman said.

The committee came up with the recommendations, following cutting edge consultations with inputs of critical stakeholders. Furthermore, in order to curb fraudulent acts in the local government system, the committee recommended strict sanctions on any officials and local government personnel found culpable.

Ojora said: “There is no doubt that Ambode will make positive use of this as he understands the place of the Local Government in governance and had met with Executive Secretaries to sensitize them on the various reforms going on in the state and the need to bring everyone on board as the reform is critical for even development and progress.”

Presently, the state governor is critically looking at the recommendation of the committee aimed at ensuring prompt implementation for the benefit of the people.

Tour of 57 councils: To this end, last week,  Ambode concluded plans to embark on a tour of the 57 local governments in the state, saying it would afford him the opportunity to listen to the challenges of the people first hand and address them accordingly. “We believe strongly that we should scale up community governance in this state. It is more about communities, its more about our people and what they want,” he said.

Lagos assembly on budget template for 57 councils

Lagos State House of Assembly, recently, fashioned out a standard budget template for all the 20 Local Government Areas, (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas, (LCDAs), in the state. The House, through the Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, had earlier approved the  2015 budget estimates for LGs/LCDAs, following the report of a 7-man Ad-hoc Committee.

The committee which was inaugurated on June 18, 2015, and chaired by Hon Rotimi Abiru, submitted its findings to the House on July 30, 2015. Members of the Committee include: Bisi Yusuff, Yinka Ogundimu, Adekanye Oladele, Mojeed Fatai, Lawal Mojisola Lasbat and Alimi Kazeem. The 7th Legislative Assembly had earlier, mandated its house committee to carry-out the exercise in consonance with Section 3 of the Local Government Council Committee Law, 2007, which states inter alia that:

Estimates ofrevenue

“The Committee shall be responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Local Government in accordance with the provisions of Sections 33, 34 and 40 of the Local Government (Administration) Law. Provided that with respect to the preparation of annual estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Local Governments, such shall be laid before the House of Assembly for debate and approval.”

Based on the above law the committee swung into action but could not conclude the assignment before the dissolution of the House on Monday, 1st June, 2015. The findings of the committee, revealed that most LGAs and LCDAs in the state performed poorly in the area of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), hence, their reliance on Federal Allocation.

That the overhead estimate of the LGAs and LCDAs in the state were bloated to the detriment of the capital expenditure which does not augur well for development at the grass roots as well showing that the Councils do not have a uniform template for budget preparation.  To this effect, the Ad-hoc committee chairman directed all the council representatives to appear with all the documents which include capital receipts, Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR) from January till date, breakdown of the overhead cost, breakdown of teachers’ salaries and bank statements.

Abiru said the purpose of the exercise was to prepare a uniform template for the councils. He therefore, urged councils to give priority to capital expenditure that would enhance physical development at the grassroots.

PDP reacts

Meantime, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Lagos chapter had accused Ambode, of planning to delay the yet-to-be conducted local council elections in the state. PDP had claimed that the All Progressives Congress-led government in Lagos was not interested in conducting elections into the local government councils. Its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, also accused the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC, of working with the APC to delay the polls.

The statement said, “The Lagos State chapter of the PDP has reiterated her conclusion that the APC government in Lagos is not popular among the electorates, especially for any grass roots elections and as such deliberately frustrating the conduct of local council polls long overdue since October 2014.

“The PDP has at this time accused LASIEC as an electoral body which has exposed itself as an appendage of APC in the state and not at all independent in its decisions and administration.” According to Gani, Ambode was planning to delay the polls until after one year in office.

“The delay to conduct council polls in Lagos is deliberate to eventually give undue advantage to the APC. The defence put up by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters (who was quoted to have blamed the delay in the conduct of the council polls on the Independent National Electoral Commission claiming that the electoral body has not concluded the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards and thus the polls cannot be conducted at this time) is preposterous, repulsive and clearly an indication that APC will turn out to be a party of impunity and inconsistencies,” he said.

The Lagos PDP’s spokesman further alleged that the state’s councils were operating contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution. “This is an aberration to Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution which guarantees only democratically elected local government administration. The APC is unpopular and thus avoiding any grass roots election,” Gani said.

NCP sues Lagos INEC on failure to hold LGs poll

The national Conscience Party, NCP, had taken the state government to court over the delay in the conduct of LGs poll. The case number LD/318MJR/15, NCP/Lagos INEC which was filed before Hon Justice A.M Lawal, sitting at the foyer court 53, Lagos High Court, Igbosere was later adjourned for hearing to sometime in October, 2015. Adeleke Akele, a chieftain of NCP, however expressed optimism that justice will be done at the hearing by the court.

Vanguard