A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and political affairs analyst, Dr. George Agbakahi has expressed support to the recommendation of the National Assembly joint Committee on Constitution Review to create an additional one state for the South East geopolitical zone to bring the number of states in the region at par with other regions of the country.
Agbakahi, however, disagreed with the recommendation that additional states should be created across each of the six geopolitical zones to bring the total number from 36 to 42 states in the country.
Recall that the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review met recently in Lagos and recommended an additional one state to the South East and one state in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones as part of its resolution.
If the proposal sails through, the number of states in the country will rise from 36 to 42 with the North West having eight and the North East, North Central, South West and South South having seven each and the South East six or seven as the case may be.
Chairpersons of each chamber of the National Assembly on the Constitution Review, Deputy Senate President, Sen Jibrin Barau and Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu are expected to present the committee’s resolutions when the lawmakers reconvene for plenary.
But speaking on the development, in a Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, current affairs programme, “Nigeria Today”, which was monitored in Abuja by our reporter, Dr. George Agbakahi, stated that whereas creating one additional state for South East would cure agitation of marginalization by the zone, but creating states for each zone would be unwieldy and economically unviable.
“We understand that there is a particular region or geopolitical zone in Nigeria that is being marginalized in terms of the number of states. The South East currently has five states, whereas other regions in the federation have six and even one has seven.
“So if there is going to be any creation of the state, my opinion will be that the South East will receive an additional state that will make it six before we start talking about the creation of an additional state in the country.”
Agbakahi, who is also South East leader of Tinubu Support Organization and member of 2023 Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Media and Publicity Directorate, explained that although creation of new states may come with advantages and disadvantages, he would prefer that only one state should be created to compensate South East.
He argued that creation of new states especially in South East would help bring governance closer to the people, increase the number of senators, the number of legislators and probably the number of local government areas, as well as address issues of minority agitations.
He stressed that additional state in South East will address issues of equity, fairness, justice balance and transparency.
“Any state that would be created in South East will be economically viable and can sustain itself. Igbo is the 3rd largest ethnic group in Nigeria after Hausa ans yoruba, hence additional state is necessary to balance the equation and give them a sense of belonging and identity,” he opined.
He acknowledged the arguments that some of the states being proposed may not be economically viable, self-sustaining and are going to be waiting for federal allocation.
“These are all the parameters that we have to take into consideration in the creation of states.
“But the argument of creating about 31 states, to me, I don’t think it’s feasible. I think Section 8 Part one of the 1999 Constitution made it in such a way that it’s a very rigorous exercise to create a state in a democratic certain.
“For example it has to go through the National Assembly, it has to go through the state Assembly, it even has to go through the local government level and there has to also be a referendum. So this issue of state creation in a democratic dispensation is not a very easy thing,” he said.
In terms of increasing good governance as against state creation, he argued that the current administration has done well in that respect.
“I remember before President Tinubu came on board the allocation to states was about N934 billion. But currently as we speak we are looking at about N1.8 trillion on a monthly basis.
“This has made it possible for most states to enhance infrastructural development, education and healthcare. The states we have so far if the governors, the local government chairmen can do a whole lot with the money that is being provided to them I think there will be massive infrastructural improvement, health, education in the entire country,” he added.
The APC chieftain further stated that the federal government under President Ahmed Tinubu has provided the enabling environment to states given that the internally generated revenue has blossomed.
“Before President Tinubu came on board, FIRS was generating about N11 trillion but now we are talking about over N21 trillion. So a lot is being done by the federal government, it’s left for the states and local governments to be able to manage the resources for the benefit of the masses,” he said.
But he posited that the creation of new states if handled properly and equitably, will lead to massive development in the country.
“But when we talk about the economic viability of some of these proposed states, can they sustain themselves? The answer is probably no. Go to the United States, Texas and California put together are larger than Nigeria in terms of geographical size but they are 50 states.
“Currently we have 36 states, I don’t see the necessity of creating another 31 states as being proposed, that is unnecessary; let us utilize the resources we have in developing the existing states.
“From what I’m saying, I don’t think it’s necessary to create additional states, what we need to do is to create one more state for the South East. That’s all, we don’t need to create additional states,” he posited.
The APC Chieftain agreed that the issue of ethnic identity is a strong factor that should guide new state creation, noting, “For example, Idoma people of Benue State. You have them in Cross river, Enugu and part of Taraba. Creation of state would bring this Ethnic group in one fold.
