The House of Representatives is considering a bill to upgrade the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State into full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The bill, sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers, passed its second reading at the Green Chamber on Wednesday.
If enacted, the constitutional amendment bill would increase the number of LGAs in Lagos from 20 to 57, aligning the state’s administrative structure with its growing population.
The sponsors argue that granting LGA status to the LCDAs will bring governance closer to the people.
The 37 LCDAs were created in 2003 by then-Governor Bola Tinubu, but they remain unrecognized because the 1999 Constitution only acknowledges the 20 existing LGAs in the state.
In 2004, then-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration withheld Lagos’ LGA allocations, declaring the LCDAs unconstitutional. The state government challenged the decision in court, and the Supreme Court ruled that while states can create LCDAs, they will remain administrative units until the National Assembly amends the constitution to grant them LGA status.
Recently, the Lagos State House of Assembly has been considering replacing the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas, following a Supreme Court ruling that granted financial autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 LGAs.
The ruling noted that only democratically elected councils can access federal funds.
