By Abiola Olawale
The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review on Thursday put forth an ambitious and far-reaching proposition for the creation of 31 additional states within Nigeria.
The very ambitious and shocking proposal seeks to increase Nigeria’s governance structure by increasing state governments to 67 and creating unhealthy, unacceptable, and unwieldy bureaucracy and framework
The proposal for new states was contained in a letter read during Thursday’s plenary session by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the session in the absence of the Speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas.
A breakdown of the proposal revealed that the committee proposed six new states for North Central, four in the North East, five in the North West, five in South East, four in South-South and seven in South West.
The proposed new states are Okun, Okura and Confluence states from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa states from Benue; FCT state; Amana state from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi states and Savannah states from Borno and Muri State from Taraba.
Others are New Kaduna and Gujarat from Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari from Kano, and Kainji from Kebbi State; Etiti and Orashi as the 6th state in the South East Adada from Enugu, Orlu and Aba from the South East.
Also included are Ogoja from Cross River State, Warri from Delta, Ori and Obolo from Rivers; Torumbe from Ondo; Ibadan from Oyo, Lagoon from Lagos, Ogun, Ijebu from Ogun state as well as Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun States.
The letter read in part:: “The committee proposes the creation of 31 new states. As amended, this section outlines specific requirements that must be fulfilled to initiate the process of state creation, which include the following:
1. New state and boundaries
“An act of the National Assembly to create a new state shall only be passed if it requires support by at least the third majority of members.
2. The House of Representatives, the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area are received by the National Assembly.
“Local government advocates for the creation of additional local government areas are only reminded that Section 8 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, applies to this process.
“Specifically, by Section 8 (3) of the Constitution, the outcome of the votes of the State Houses of Assembly in the referendum must be forwarded to the National Assembly for fulfilment of state demands.
“Proposals shall be resubmitted in strict adherence to the stipulations. Submit three hard copies of the full proposal of the memoranda to the Secretariat of the Committee in Room H331, House of Representatives, White House, National Assembly Complex, and Abuja.
“Sub-copies must also be sent electronically to the Committee’s email address at info.hccr.gov.nj. For further information or contact, please contact the Committee Clerk at 08069-232381.
“The committee remains committed to supporting the implementing efforts that align with the Constitutional provisions and would only consider proposals that comply with the stipulated guidelines. This is coming from the Clerk of the Committee on Constitutional Review.”
