- Speaker mandates public hearing of other stakeholders
By Olanrewaju Adesanya
The Lagos Assembly has set up an 11-man ad-hoc committee to fine tune the Lagos State Administrative Division Establishment bill 2021, with a view to addressing the worries of Lagosians on proposed delineation.
The bill having scaled through the first and second reading procedural arrangements of the house was adopted for debate.
Lawmakers took turns to holistically critic the bill, citing passion for cultural entanglements and affiliations.
In his contribution Hon.Rotimi Abiru cautioned the house, not to gloss over the cultural sentiment of the people as efforts are in top gear to refine existing divisional arrangements.
The Deputy Speaker Hon. Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni was quick to bring the house up to speed on the various historical perspectives on why Eti-osa area which by former division establishment goes with Lagos Island and won’t speak well to be subsumed or merged with the Epe division.
Hon. Mojisola Meranda in her submission talks about the passion of an Islander and the affinity they have with a particular division.
The Majority Leader Hon. Sanai Agunbiade was averse to the bill noting that the Ikorodu division stands out from time past and to now merge two strong local governments; Kosofe and Shomolu with it will amount to depriving the division of basic political considerations.
Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu representing Eti-Osa 2 constituency, who stated his affinity with the Lagos Central, noted that the administrative division need not lead to overblown debate as the initial creation was born out of need to afford ease of governance, so more divisions could be added.
Some other lawmakers also made contributions regarding the bill.
The Speaker Rt.Hon. Mudashiru Obasa counseled that the debate should be detached from any cultural entanglements rather more concentration need be accorded positive development the new delineation attempt will afford the concerned areas.
Obasa then committed the bill to an 11-man ad-hoc committee to be chaired by Hon. Abiodun Tobun, delegating the responsibility to organise a day public hearing on Friday 12th of February 2021 to garner contributions from stakeholders.
Other members of the adhoc committee are; Hon. Victor Akande, Hon. Raheem Kazeem, Hon. Temitope Adewale, Hon. Owolabi Ajani, Hon. Oluyinka Ogundimu, Hon.Desmond Elliott, Hon. Adedamola Kasunmu, Hon.Nureni Akinsanya, Hon. Kehinde Joseph and Hon. Sylvester Ogunkelu.
The Committee is to report to the House on the 15th of February, 2021.