Lagos Councils: Reactions Trail Delayed Appointment Of SLGs & Supervisory Councillors

MICHAEL AKINOLA

Lagos State, as the Centre of Excellence, has always set the pace for the rest of the states in Nigeria in many areas. Just as many states in the Federation for many years had not conducted Local Government elections, same cannot be said about Lagos State, which conducted elections about seven months ago with Chairmen and Councillors in the 20 Local Government areas and 37 Local Council Development areas all sworn into their different offices.

Incidentally however, the Local Councils in Lagos State for several months after inauguration of the Executive and Legislative Arms had been running without Secretaries and Supervisory Councillors.

Whiletrying todig in to know why the situation remained so several months after the inauguration on 27th July, 2021, P.M.EXPRESS Correspondent sampled opinions of stakeholders across different Council areas in the state.

Some stakeholders cited that it was the same scenario many months after inauguration under the Akinwunmi Ambode led administration in 2017. A few others were of the opinion that the State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had not looked in that direction yet. Some others felt that the delay was to allow the internal squabbles raised by the party primaries and election proper to die down. Another school of thought posited that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may have allowed the delay for the new Party Executives to fully take charge of proceedings across the state. Many other reasons were advanced as being behind the several months of delay in the appointment of Secretaries and Supervisory Councillors.

It must be noted that the Secretaries to the Local Governments play huge roles in the executive committees of the Local Governments by their coordination of the activities of the departments of the Local Councils while liaising on behalf of the chairmen with the grassroots, Local and State functionaries.

The Supervisory Councillors on their part are political appointees of the Local Government areas and upon their appointment; they are assigned departments for supervision. In some cases, individuals, who had contested in the elections but did not win and party loyalists are often compensated with slots as Supervisory Councillors to create balance in the party structure.

More specifically, their functions include serving as political heads of their respective departments; serving as members of the executive committee of the Local Government; giving directives to the professional heads of their respective departments on general policy issues; assisting the chairman to supervise the execution of Local Government projects within their respective departments and carrying out such other duties or functions as the chairman may assign from time to time.

According to a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Alimosho, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, he said that they have been waiting for the green light from the Apex Leaders, who are the GAC members, to communicate the position of the Governor or the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and that any moment from now the list will be out. 

Another Chieftain, Saheed Adebowale, expressed his displeasure with the delay in the announcement of the list of SLGs and supervisors. 

He said, “We’re Progressives and should always lead by example. The main base of the political system remains the grassroots and we must always pay genuine attention to issues about the grassroots. To me, administration at the Local Council level will remain lopsided without the SLGs and Supervisory Councillors. If we’re serious about the whole thing, it should not take more than two or three weeks after the inauguration to get the list out in order to ensure that everything will take shape almost immediately across the Local Councils”. 

“Anything worth doing is worth doing well. It is very true that many States had been using Technical Committees to run the affairs of the Local Governments. But we’ve conducted elections in Lagos State and so I believe we should stop running the Councils without SLGs and supervisors. It is even unconstitutional!” Adebowale said. 

For another APC faithful, Adebimpe Adeniran, focus has shifted to the National Convention and the Presidential aspiration of the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and so issues about the Local Councils took the back seat. 

“I believe strongly that every attention across the country has shifted to the National Convention of our party coupled with the fact that our National Leader has indicated his interest to contest for the Presidency. If not that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been busy with his aspiration and consultations, we will not witness the delay. So, hopefully after the National Convention the list will be out” Adebimpe submitted. 

An embittered APC faithful, Biodun Fagbohun, who spoke to P.M.EXPRESS correspondent, said that until we get it right with the administration of Local Government affairs, the country may never move forward. 

“How do we conduct elections without being ready to have things work properly. At the moment, across the Local Councils in Lagos State, the Chairmen are the ones signing contracts for projects, they are equally the ones executing them and supervising their execution. Things are not done that way in any sane society; we can’t move the country forward this way.”

“Conduct a random check today across the 57 Local Councils in the State and you will see that 70% of the elected Councillors trek or join commercial buses to work. They have been without official cars, which would have aided their jobs because the list of the SLGs and supervisors is not out yet. As the Centre of Excellence, we must always set the pace” Biodun concluded. 

Another party faithful, Abdulrahaman Adeoye, spoke emphatically that the party leaders across the Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas have their lists ready. They already know who they want to occupy positions as SLGs and Supervisors but they are only waiting for the party’s leadership to give the nod. 

With the further postponement of the APC National Convention, may be the issues associated with the delay of the announcement of list of the SLGs and supervisors will be sorted and the list made public.