Akeredolu and the newly created 33 LCDAs
Rotimi Akeredolu, the Governor of Ondo over the weekend reportedly assented to the bill creating 33 local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state.
The newly created LCDAs are to co-exist with the existing 18 LGAs in the state, bringing the total number of local councils in the state to 51.
Akeredolu signed the bill a day after his return from a 3-month medical leave. The state house of assembly passed the bill for the creation of the 33 additional councils on August 15 after it passed the third reading.
In a statement by Richard Olatunde, media aide to Akeredolu, he said with the governor’s assent, the bill now possesses legal backing for the creation of the LCDAs in the state.
According to Akeredolu, the establishment of the LCDAs “marks a substantial step towards fulfilling his campaign promises and addressing the aspirations of the people for enhanced grassroots development.”
“Moreover, this initiative underscores Governor Akeredolu’s unwavering commitment to improving public service delivery, as it aims at bringing governance closer to the people, ultimately resulting in more responsive and efficient services,” the statement reads.
“Governor Akeredolu remains dedicated to delivering impactful projects and innovative initiatives, just as he is poised to redouble his efforts in advancing the development of the Sunshine State.”
On Saturday, October 10, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the Ondo State Governorship election, from which Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged winner. Governor Akeredolu scored 292,830 votes to defeat 16 other candidates, including his closest rival, Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 195,791 votes and his estranged Deputy, Agboola Ajayi who contested on the platform of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and scored 69,127 votes.
He was sworn-in for a second term in office on Feb 24,2021. His new Deputy in person of Lucky Aiyedatiwa, assumed office on the same date and he is the incumbent Deputy Governor of Ondo State.
His second term has however been a bit affected by his health condition, though he had said that he was getting a lot better after returning from another medical trip last Thursday.
However, not a few people considered his recent action to create additional 33 Local Development Areas as a genuine move towards enhancing grassroots development. This is because of the fact that Nigerian governors have really cared less about funding the constitutionally recognised created local governments not to talk of this in house arrangements by these governors called LCDAs.
This idea was started by early 2000 when our incumbent President Bola Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos State. Tinubu had argued that to bring government closer to over 20 million people resident in Lagos State, he must create additional 37 LCDAs in addition to the existing 20 local governments.
The matter had been turned out to be a major crisis between the former President Obasanjo who was at the helms of the affairs then and Tinubu. Obasanjo had frowned at the creation of any additional Local governments outside the 20 Council areas recognised by the Constitution and because Tinubu would not budged, the former President as a way to whip Tinubu to line had decided to withhold the monthly allocations to Lagos State.
Even after the court described Obasanjo’s action as illegal, the former President stuck to his gun refusing to let the Lagos State government have access to federal allocations due to her.
Tinubu on the other hand pursued religiously the establishment of these LCDAs, funded them with the Internally Generated Revenue of the state alongside the existing 20 local governments.
This ingenuity of Tinubu created more jobs, brought government more closer to the grassroots as the LCDAs were also busy implementing projects that could enhance grassroots governance.
It should be noted that, the government of Late Umoru Yaradua eventually released to Lagos State all the withheld federal allocations.
Many argued that Lagos State was able to make statement out of the creation of these LCDAs because of the huge resources at its disposal coupled with the fact that Tinubu actually wanted the local governments to function, hence giving them bit of independence to complement state projects at the grassroots.
However, others who have repeated that in the country have really not done this with all the sincerity of purpose that it deserves.
For instance, former Gov Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State who the local government chairmen that served under him alleged to have sat on the resources meant for grassroots development had went ahead to create additional 37 LCDAs.
Many had wondered what wisdom is there for a man who decided to starve his 20 children still went ahead to give birth to additional 37. Little wonder the LCDAs made no impact during their lifetime until they were scrapped by his successor, Gov. Abiodun.
Just about two ago, the suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Hon. Wale Adedayo cried out that Gov Abiodun had also allegedly refused to fund the council areas saying that it has been zero allocation since they resumed office two years ago.
And of course, the 20 local governments across the state have been ghost of themselves lacking capacity to do something substantial to improve on the lives of the people at the grassroots.
It is against this backdrop that the announcement of creation of additional Local Council Development Areas by Gov. Akeredolu had been considered to be just another political gimmick that worths not celebrating.
Aside benefitting from the derivation fund being an oil producing country, Ondo State could not be said to be that viable financially like that of Lagos State.
All eyes are therefore on Akeredolu to see how sincere he will be with the creation of these LCDAs. It is said that being an erudite lawyer and former Chairman of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) a lot is expected from him as far setting pace in the country with the creation of the additional 33 LCDAs. Will Akeredolu prove to be different and allow these third tier of the government function maximally well? Time will certainly tell.
