Create Lagoon State: 7 LGA's in Lagos Clamour for their own State

The call for the creation of Lagoon state, has been reaffirmed by its proponents arguing that Lagos has remained the way it was since Nigeria’s independence hence the non-development of its rural part which they claim has remained “rural and backward while the city blossomed and prospered.”

Leading the call on Tuesday, was the executive chairman of the Lagoon State Movement,  Babatunde Benson (SAN), who in his presentation at Ikorodu Town Hall, claimed that Lagos state as it is now, has been continuously shortchanged with the development of its rural areas and revenue allocation when compared with other states it was created with in 1967.

This he claimed has led to the utter neglect and under-development of the rural part of West-Africa’s commercial centre. “The driving force for the demand for the creation of Lagoon State arises principally from the structural imbalance in the Nigeria Federal arrangement, when additional states were carved out from other states since the first creation in 1967” he declared.

According to Chief Benson, “old Kano state was not only spilt into two states but the number of local government was increased from 20 to 70. The number of local governments in Lagos State which has continued to remain rural is 20.”

Ikorodu, Epe, Kosofe, Somolu, Apapa, high-brow Eti-Osa and Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Areas (LGA) are the seven LGAs seeking to pull out of Lagos to form the proposed Lagoon State. The seven LGAs are described as “the contagious and form the rural, riverine and peripheral poor areas of Lagos State.” Channels