It is no news that the Lagos State House of Assembly had written a communique to all 20 Local Government Chairmen and the 37 Local Council Development Area Chairmen on the need to implement the RMFAC recommendation of 2018, but of course this recommendation was brought forward and deliberated upon by a committee constituted of 9 members which includes (3) Local Government Chairmen, (3) Secretary to Local Government and (3) Leaders of the house.
The committee submitted its report to the House of Assembly since 2nd July 2018, since of which the Leadership of the House of Assembly has communicated its decision on the report after passing several readings on the floor of the House directly to the Council Chairmen.
From all indications, the RMFAC recommendations should have kicked off since November 2019 as Mandated by the House of Assembly to the Chairmen.
Upon further inquiry on this issue of political importance our reporter was able to interview some sources who were of the opinion that the RMFAC recommendation was to kick start by January 2020, after much rig-marolling and pleadings from the Council Chairmen to allow them to factor the new wages for political office holders into their budget as it was a technical and financial issue which they were not ready for in the past year.
The question begging for answer now was why these Chairmen have refused to honor this recommendation and proceeded to lobbying from various fronts, rig-maroling.
What is the motive behind this move by this council bosses of not following the House of Assembly’s directive?? Maybe there is a back stage romance going on between these chairmen and the house (a speculation though).
Why has the Commissioner Local Government and chieftaincy Affairs not written to this chairmen to come forward and present their frame-work to his office or give them the directive to implement the new salary wages of political office holders at the Local Government Level.
It is pertinent to note that last month there was a shake in the cabinet of Mr. Governor that had the former commissioner moved to Ministry of Wealth creation, maybe because she was non-approachable on the issue by the chairmen and thus the swift removal.
One might not need to go far into the matter to the extent of involving Mr. Governor on this development but as the Number 1 citizen of the state and A.P.C in Lagos, this might be a sign but who is asking.
What precisely is the Leadership of the House of Assembly doing to the situation on ground!!! But of course in the next few weeks we would know the stand of the House of Assembly, the Commissioner and the Council bosses.
Our correspondent went round some councils to interview some Councilors and their view and working relationship with their chairmen, some councilors declined having an interview while some expressed their displeasure on the way their Council bosses relate to them on political affairs of the Local Government. A source further stated that they were just used as pawns and not carried along in the development process, planning, execution of projects, while some even went ahead to say their chairmen don’t even want to see some members face-to-face because of them belonging to different factions of the same party. A further delve into the critical issue at hand showed that 60% of Council bosses blatantly told their Councilors and Exco members that they would not honor the new RMFAC recommendation, while another 35% were diplomatic by telling their members that if they pay the new wage it is of benefit to them also, giving the questionaire’s should we say false hope or deception as the case may be?An approach to some supervisors hit a dead end as their position remained neutral, some supervisors happened to express that they are just spectators and their views and opinions may not matter on the issue.