'Creation of 57 LGs in Lagos, Constitutional'
By Theophilus Oyekanmi
The creation of 57 additional local governments in Lagos State is constitutional, an aide to Chief Yinka Folawiyo, the Baba Adini of Nigeria' Chief Rasheed Fanimokun has said.
Speaking in Lagos at the 3rd annual lecture of the Department of Sociology, University of Lagos, Fanimokun, said his support for the justification was hinged on the 1999 constitutional provision.
According to him, this was informed by the size of the state, the population of the people living therein, the mega status of the state and the desire to correct the imbalance in allocation derivable to the state from the Federal Government coffers "as against Kano State that has 44 local government councils. He argued that Lagos State is marginalised in spite of its glaring advantage in statutory allocation whereas, Kano is not as thickly populated as Lagos State." He therefore said "the 57 local government councils created are the best by the good people of the state."
Fanimokun suggested that Lagos State "should be given a special allocation for her mega status and for accommodating other ethnicity and tribes in Nigeria."
On the creation of the new local government areas in Lagos State and seizure of allocations by the Federal Government, the guest lecturer, Professor Ekundayo Akeredolu-Ale said "the argument for the creation of additional local government councils for Lagos State should not be based on comparative parameter but, rather, on the genuineness of such creation."
Akeredolu-Ale Salso said "going by Chief Fanimokun's argument, I think the call for creation of more local government councils and the eventual creation of same in the state is well justified."
On the Federal Government's seizure of funds to the state, he said "the Federal Government has no constitutional rights to have either withheld or stopped the allocation of funds to the state as two wrongs cannot even make a right."
In his own speech, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, the Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos said "most of the problems plaguing Nigeria could be termed as one of sociological problem of life."
He therefore suggested that "we need to improve on the perception of our various academicians in our universities so that they could live a fulfilled life as academicians."
The Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Lai Olurode in his speech called on Africans to "fall back on its rich culture in order to get act of its poor economic status to become a richly blessed continent."
Professor Adebayo Ninalowo, the convener of the lecture and Head, Department of Sociology on his part said "Nigeria is richly blessed with both human and material resources to develop sociologically politically, socially, academically, spiritually and financially."
Ninalowo also observed that "the scope of Nigeria's problems against attaining greatness are transnational and cross-cultural wise; only sociology can help find a lasting solution to this."
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