Lagos CDAs/CDCs in election fever

Emeka Ibemere
If you are a keen follower of politics at the grassroots, you would notice the ecstasy and trappings of political campaigns, emotions and tensions going on in your neighbourhood.
What is the cause?
 Its election time for all over 2000 Community Development Associations and Community Development Committees of the councils, popularly known as (CDA/ CDC) in Lagos State.
CDAs are now the unofficial Fourth tier of the government in its effort to take governance to the grassroots. The foundation was laid for the constitutional allocation of a certain percentage of funds to take care of the CDAs.
There is automatic membership of the CDA of a particular resident in a particular area and the resident is entitled to participate in the administration of that CDA.
In the past politicians have leveraged on the activities of the CDAs to win serious council, senatorial, Governorship, and Representatives elections.
Some smart politicians have started aligning and signing pacts with the Community Development Associations (CDAs) for 2015 election.

Lagos State government had a month ago dissolved all the CDAs and CDCs executives and called for fresh elections in all the areas.
The elections are to be contested into 16 vacant positions while about 23 positions are to be appointed as ex-Officio members in each CDA/CDCs in the state.
The election comes on the expiration of the constitutional two years tenure of the previous executives of the Associations.
In the last one month, election fever seems to have captured the residents of the CDA/CDCs in the state with campaigns and promises from the candidates who have declared interests to contest the elections.
So far, no fewer than 50 CDAs / CDCs have carried out their elections under the supervision and monitoring of either the Council Chairman, Councillors, electoral body, or caretaker committees of each CDAs and CDCs.
Daily Newswatch gathered that essence of the CDAs and CDCs was to act as a check on their councils’ chairmen and councillors and monitor government projects in their areas with the view to ensuring that projects are completed at schedule time according to specifications.
It was on these responsibilities that all the CDAs recently involved themselves in elections across the state to elect responsible leaders that would represent them at the councils.
To these end, both the State and the Local Government Areas inaugurated committees to monitor all the CDAs and CDCs elections, which has been going on in the last two months.
In a recent report, the Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos State, Kehinde Bamigbetan, last week, inaugurated an eight man electoral body that would supervise the conduct of election into various positions of executive committee of the 74 Community Development Associations (CDA’S) and Community Development Committee (CDC) of the council.
It was reported that the members of the electoral body was to conduct the forthcoming elections in all the CDAs new executive members in the local council. The use of the body, according to the stakeholders was a new move towards ensuring that people who are committed and ready to render selfless service to their communities are elected as representatives of the people at the CDA level.
It would be recalled that the CDAs was established by law, as a fourth tier of government that will serve as a link between the people and government at both local and state levels.


Just last week, Saturday July 20, Ifesowepo Kwaru Community Development Association, Ikotun LCDA, in Alimosho Local Government Area, conducted their CDA election.
The election which began with the accreditation of residents started by 7Am and end by 9Am. The election was spiced with the contestant addressing the voters on what they would do for the community, in what looked like their manifestos to the residents.

It was followed by the Election which was conducted by the representatives of the Ikotun Local Council Development Area. The election took place at the CDA, s meeting ground 2 Segilola Valentine Street, Kwaru Family Way, off Custom, bus stop Ikotun, with the residents coming out en-mass to exercise their franchise.
The smooth and peaceful election was only contested on the Chairmanship position while the other positions were not contested for. The other officers were returned unopposed; as the 16- man executive cabinet would be headed by Apostle Awaji Onward Mark garnered 96 votes to win the election while his opponent Lawrence Adesuwa received 46 votes to come second.
The elected officers are: Apostle Awaji Mark Onward as Chairman, Mr Nduka O Joseph, Secretary, Alhaji Oduwale S.O Treasurer, Mr Justine Nwafor Financial Secretary, Mr Igbodepe Tunde Public Relations Officer, Mr Gbade Johnson, Welfare and Mrs Adeniyi Olufunke 1^st Vice Chairman. Others are Alhaji Adetunji Alabi, 2^ND Vice Chairman, Mr Bolu Ogunsina, and Vice Secretary, and Mr Justine as the auditor of the Association. The officers have been ratified by the Local Government officers
The officers also include ex-officio members. They are Captain David Marcus, Mr Abikelaja Babatunde, Chief Gilbert Ifubesi, Pastor Kalu Peter, Mr Gbadebo Kolawole, Mrs Ikoro, Mrs Abiola Adeyinka and Mrs Ruth John.
Representatives of the Ikotun LCDA, who supervised the election announced the result and ratified the positions. Addressing the contestant before the election, the Council officers warned the officers not to see their positions as an avenue to enrich themselves while reminding them that the positions are call to duty.
The speaker of the representatives said the leaders must see themselves as servants of the community and must carry everybody along in the discharge of their duties. She further told them that the service has no salary attached to it, adding that instead they should commit their own time, resource, funds and sacrifice to the community.  The Ifesowepo Kwaru Community Development Association’s residents expected their elected officers to make sure that security, light and road issues are resolved in the area.

In Lagos State Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Community Development Committees (CDCs) were created to champion the cause of the communities and enhance grassroots development by checking the excesses of the leaders. But many CDA and CDC leaders have not been living to these responsibilities.
The leaders are supposed to work as community leaders and advance for provision of better life for its community, their major duty. According to the mandate giving to them, they are to act as checks on their councils’ chairmen and councillors and monitor government projects in their areas with the view to ensuring that projects are completed at schedule time according to specifications.
Meanwhile, there are plans to make CDAs and CDCs’ leaders lived up to their billings and help in the fight against corrupt practices in the local government areas, a group, known as Save Visions Africa (SVA), in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), have taken it upon themselves to educate the officers of the CDC and CDAs.
 To this end, the group has in the past organised workshops and seminars to empower them with sufficient knowledge about their roles and how they can execute them satisfactorily.
Peter Okereke SVA coordinator, speaking on corruption at the CDAs /CDCs level said recently that challenges to be tackled in the CDAs and CDCs include; high illiteracy at the grassroots, inflation of CDAs contracts, proliferation of ghost CDAs workers, poor CDAs project planning and prioritisation, poor budgetary processes, exclusive mode of CDAs system, difficulty in accessing information on CDAs projects, inadequate political will and legal space for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involvement in CDAs activities, among others.
Okereke disclosed that in assessing the problem of corruption in the CDAs, and formulating and implementing reforms, CSOs with requisite experience must be prepared to monitor anti-corruption efforts, expose and deter corrupt practices.
“To sustain the fight against corruption at the grassroots governments, we encourage CDAs workers in all LGAs to build a strong network of an anti-corruption vanguard among themselves as a point of service information building and management. This network will act as a functional clearing house to check corrupt practices in the CDAs/CDCs and provide continuous back-up support to whistle blowers and report possible cases,” he stated.
Also Acting Chairman of ICPC, Peter explained that the seminar was important since the fight against corruption cannot be won without active involvement of all Nigerians and their leaders at the community levels.
“Members of communities keep an eye on strange happenings and movement of strange people in their environments. It is this pivotal role of CDAs that ICPC is exploring as a window of opportunity to galvanise communal consciousness for the entrenchment of integrity and restoration of societal core values as the bedrock for eradicating corruption in the society,” Peter, who spoke through Head of Department, ICPC Headquarters, Abuja, Adunni Okoduwa stated.
Also delivering paper, entitled; “Mobilising CDAs for Advocacy Against Corruption,” Debo Adeniran of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), recently noted that rather than pursue the virtues that brought members of CDAs together they most times end as mouthpiece of the local government.
“As soon as they recognised by the LGs, and then, attract annual subventions and attend regular meetings with the LG, instead of strengthening the CDAs, the recognition and subvention weaken them. Even the subventions usually get to them as little fraction or none at all, most CDAs never want to criticise their LG for fear of intimidation or deregistration. They therefore become, rather than their community’s arbiter, the LG’s mouthpiece in their game of public deception,” Adeniran stated.
Chief Strategist, Labour Resources and Development Centre, Tunji Sekoni in a report recently in a paper entitled; “Community Advocacy, Process and Prospects in Fighting Corruption at the Grassroots Levels”, also emphasised the need for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to make sure that the leaders of CDAs and CDCs at grassroots government to be more conscientious and show probity in their duties.
It would be recalled that the Local Government administration in governance brings the government closer to the people. CDAs and CDCs are an efficient partnership between the three tiers of government guarantees smooth administration of a State.  Lagos State has over 18 million people under 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas in Lagos State.