Three days after an executive bill on the establishment of 13 Local Council Development Areas sent by Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, the bill has scaled first and second reading says Abubakar Luggerewo, Speaker of the House of Assembly.
Speaking on Saturday during a one-day public heating on the creation of additional 13 LCDAs from 11 existing LGAs, Luggerewo disclosed that the bill was not only well thought out but geared to bring the required development at the grassroots.
Recall that the bill was made public in a press statement signed by Director-General Press Affairs Gombe Government House Ismaila Misilli on behalf of the governor on Wednesday.
The proposed LCDAs are Akko North with headquarters in Amada, Akko West in Pindiga, Balanga South in Bambam, Billiri West in Tal, Dukku North in Malala, Funakaye South in Tongo, Gombe South in Bolari, Kaltungo East in Wange, Kwami West in Bojude, Nafada West in Birin Fulani, Pero-Chonge in Filiya, Yamaltu East in Hinna, and Yamaltu West in Zambuk.
Our correspondent reports that the establishment of 13 LCDAs is a sequel from a recently held constitutional review by the National Assembly for North-East zone A.
He noted that the stage of the bill was due to the importance of the bill, “the proposed creation of 13 new LCDAs is a people-oriented initiative that will ensure development at the grassroots level and ensure effective utilisation of state resources,” Luggerewo added.
Continuing Luggerewo added, “the LCDAs will bring government services closer to the people, promoting development and enhance the quality of life for residents.”
On his part, acting Chairman of the creation of LCDAs, Musa Buba, commended the foresight of the executive stressing that the legislature would give the needed support.
He said, “In view of the foregoing, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is important to emphasise that the Bill before us for the creation of Local Council Development Areas is anchored on the executive powers within the constitutional framework.
“While the Constitution recognises only Local Government Areas as listed in Part I of the First Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the proposed LCDAs are to be established by State legislation as administrative units operating under their respective parent Local Government Councils. Their purpose is to facilitate good governance, maintain peace and order, bring governance closer to the people, promote equitable development, and enhance service delivery at the grassroots, in line with the powers granted to states under Sections 4(7), 5(2)(a) and (b), 100(1)-(3) of the Constitution (As amended).”
Buba noted that it was based on the house constitutional foundation that it embarked on a process marked by legislative scrutiny, public participation, and transparent deliberation.
He added, “Accordingly, the initiative of the His Excellency Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, CON Dan-Majen Gombe is not without precedent. Across Nigeria, forward-thinking states such as Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, Delta, and Osun have embraced the LCDA model to strengthen grassroots administration. These states have recorded remarkable improvements in service delivery, citizen engagement, and local economic activity.”
On his part, Commissioner for Justice, Umar Zubair, hailed the legislators for the prompt attention given to the bill, stressing that it would strengthen efficiency in governance.
He disclosed that the recent review of the 1999 constitution by national assembly was the reason for the decision to create LCDAs.
Zubair said, “We hosted them here on the 12th of July, I believe before they came they shared thematic areas people can make their submissions about 13 areas, one of which is local government reform and we sat down to look at it as a government. We sat down to decide that Gombe State will make presentation for each of the thematic areas.”
Continuing the Attorney General added, “To avoid cry of political marginalisation, we thought we should create the LCDAs based on state structure, the state constituency.”
Making his submission, former Permanent Secretary Umar Gurama, disagreed with the process, urging the lawmakers to wait until the national assembly review committee completes the public hearing on review of the constitution.
“There is a lot of contradiction. If you want to have a kind of devolution of power from the local government to smaller micro level which was tried and tested in 1989, 1991 by the military government it was a fine structure. You don’t need to disrupt the current structures of the local government because they are saying people will move from the LGAs to the the LCDAs which doesn’t have infrastructure to support that,” he said.
Gurama disagreed with the position of the drafters of the bill on LCDAs that resources meant for substantive local government areas will be shared equitably with the new ones.
“It’s unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court verdict with 11 orders, this is tantamount to breach of court order. No one should tamper with LGAs funding allocated to them.
