A Professor of Law, Samson Erugo (SAN), says workers of the Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) remain legitimate employees of the respective states where they operate.

Erugo disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He was reacting to the fate of the employees of the LCDAs in some states, following the apex court’s pronouncement. The Supreme Court had in a judgment on July 11, granted financial autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the country.

According to him, the LCDAs are creations of state laws, though not recognised by the constitution.

“The fate of the LCDA workers therefore seems arguable and has always been so because the LCDAs are not established under the constitution. So, strictly speaking, they are not employees of the LGAs, but of the states.

“They remain legitimate employees of the respective states within the recognised LGAs, under which they serve,” Erugo said.

Erugo said that there was nothing wrong with the states creating development areas.

He, however, noted that the challenge would be attempting to force such development areas on the federation for funding, or the states seeking to fund the LCDAs by sharing the federal allocations meant for recognised LGAs.

“In cases of such illegitimate sharing before now, the desirable change has come with the Supreme Court judgment. However, in any case, the workers are protected,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Chris Ayiyi, the Principal Partner, Ayiyi Chambers, said LCDAs were introduced by the current President of the country, when he was the governor of Lagos State.

Ayiyi noted that it was argued then that the LCDAs would not last long due to the refusal of the government to fund them.

According to Ayiyi, when Mr Akinwunmi Ambode was governor of Lagos, he used the state resources to fund the LCDAs. He however, believed that the LCDAs workers would be retained and catered for from the internally generated revenue of the respective states.

“My worry is the clash between the LCDAs and the recognised LGAs.

“The states should implement the order of the Supreme Court,” he said.