ABSURDITY: Agitation For Creation of 61 New States ============== •South-South 17; •South-East 9 •North-West 6; •North-Central 13.... ============== The South-South geo-political zone is leading the demand for new states with 17 requests, two more added to the 15 earlier forwarded to the National Assembly in 2012. The South-West Zone comes second with 15 requests, also with two more added to the 13 demanded in 2012. A breakdown of the requests shows that the North-Central, which initially wanted 11 new states in addition to the six states it presently has, has increased its demand to 13 new states while the South-East has remained constant, coming fourth with a request for only nine more states. Interestingly, the North-West geo-political zone, which presently has seven states is asking for six more. This is a departure from an earlier request in the Sixth National Assembly for seven more states. The request for Bayajidda State, to be carved out of the present Katsina State was not listed in the requests for new states by the Senate CRC. It was gathered that besides asking for more states, the region also wants the geo-political zone further divided into two. The argument is that the geo-political zone, based on its land mass, is too big to be categorized as just one. Bringing up the rear is the North-East with requests for only three more states. In apparent departure from what obtained in the Sixth National Assembly when there was demand for New Borno State, that demand has been dropped and replaced with the request for Savannah State by the Movement for Creation of Savannah State. Requests for new states from all the six geo-political zones which stood at 48 in the Sixth National Assembly rose to 58 as at July 31, 2012. Between then and the close of submission of memoranda, the figure has risen to 61, according to records from the Senate Committee on Constitution Review (CRC). The CRC stated: “We wish to note in respect of all the requests that not all of the signatories are presently serving as members of the Senate, House of Reps, State Houses of Assembly or Local Government Councils as required by section 8 (1) (a) of the Constitution and in some cases, the memoranda was received long after the official close of submission. As such, if the signatures of those that are no longer serving at the various legislative levels are removed, the signatures of the serving members will not satisfy the provisions of Section 8 (1) (a)(i -iii). “In all, none of the requests for state creation at the close of receipt of memoranda satisfied the requirement of Section 8 (1)(a)(i -iii) to justify a recommendation for the next step in Section 8(1)(b) namely directing the INEC to conduct a referendum…” Meanwhile, some senators disclosed that some members of the CRC were sharply divided over states creation. Some lawmakers cited the looming bankruptcy of some of the 36 states of the Federation, while others queried the rationale for pushing for an additional state for only the South-East. Others insisted that requests for new states were untenable because the country’s economy could not support additional states. Agitators for creation of the 61 new states may therefore have to wait as the Seventh National Assembly has effectively shut the door on the exercise in the latest round of Constitution amendments. The report, submitted by CRC Committee Chairman, Senator Ike Ekweremadu noted that all the 61 requests failed constitutional requirements. Ranking members on the Senate CRC confirmed to that “No state will be created this time around. Forget all the noise about submission of memoranda.” Below is a breakdown of requests for creation of new states as submitted to the National Assembly: South-South 1. Ahoada State – to be created out of the present Rivers State. 2. Toru-Ebe State – to be created out of the present Delta, Edo and Ondo States. 3. Ogoja State – to be created out of the present Cross River State 4. Urhobo State – to be created out of the present Delta State 5. Minji-Se State – to be created out of the present Rivers State 6. Ado State – to be created out of the present Delta State 7. Confluence State – to be created out of the present Kogi, Edo and Nasarawa States 8. Bori State – to be created out of the present Rivers State 9&10. Anioma State – to be created out of the present Delta State. This request was presented by two different groups viz- Movement for the Creation of Anioma State and Anioma State Creation Movement 11. Oil Rivers State – to be created out of the present Akwa Ibom and Rivers States 12. Warri State – to be created out of the present Delta State 13. New Delta State – to be created out of the present Delta State 14. Ethiope State – to be created out of the present Delta State 15. Sombreiro State – to be created out of the present Rivers State 16. Coast State – to be created out of the present Delta State. 17. Itai State – to be created out of the present Akwa Ibom State. SOUTH-EAST 1. Aba State – to be created out of the present Abia State 2. Adada State – to be created out of the present Enugu State 3. Orashi State – to be created out of the present Imo and Anambra States 4. Ugwuaku State – to be created out of the present Imo, Abia, Anambra and Enugu States 5. Etiti State – to be created out of the present Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia States 6. Equity State – to be created out of the present Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi States 7. Njaba State – to be created out of the present Imo State 8. Orimili State – to be created out of the present Anambra State 9. Anim State (merger of Njaba and Orashi States) – to be created out of the present Imo and Anambra States. SOUTH-WEST 1. Toru-Ebe State – to be created out of the present Delta, Edo and Ondo State 2. New Oyo State – to be created as part of the states of the Federation of Nigeria 3. Remo-Ijebu State – to be created out of the present Ogun State 4. Ijesha State – to be created out of the present Osun State (This request was presented by two separate groups -Ijesha State Creation Movement and Movement for the Creation of Ijesha State) 5. Oduduwa State – to be created out of the present Osun State 6. Ijebu State – with Ijebu Ode as the capital 7. Ibadan State – to be created out of the present Oyo State 8. Yewa State – to be created out of the present Ogun State 9. Ose State – to be created out of the present Ondo State 10. Ijesha State – to be created out of present Osun State 11. Lagoon State – to be created out of the present Lagos State 12. Oluwa State – to be created out of the present Ondo State 13. Oke-Ogun State – to be created out of the present Oyo State 14. Igbomina State – to be created out of the present Osun and Kwara States. 15. Ilaje State – to be created out of the present Ondo State NORTH-WEST 1. Gurara State – to be created out of the present Kaduna State 2. New Kaduna State – to be created out of the present Kaduna State 3. Tiga State – to be created out of the present Kano State 4. Ghari State – to be created out of the present Kano State 5. Karaduwa State – to be created out of the present Katsina State 6. Hadejia State – to be created out of the present Jigawa State NORTH-CENTRAL 1. Apa State – to be created out of the present Benue State 2. Kainji State – to be created out of the present Niger State 3. Edu State – to be created out of the present Niger and Kwara States 4. Confluence State – to be created out of the present Kogi, Edo and Nasarawa States 5. Okura State – to be created out of the present Kogi State 6. Borgu State – to be created out of the present Kebbi, Kwara and Niger States 7. Okun State – to be created out of the present Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara and Kogi States 8. Lowland State – to be created out of the present Plateau State 9. South Plateau State – to be created out of the present Plateau State 10. Gboko State – to be created out of the present Benue State 11. Binda State – to be created out of the present Benue State 12. Kabba State – to be created out of the present Kogi State 13. Katsina-Ala State – to be created out of the present Benue and Taraba States. NORTH-EAST 1. Katagum State – to be created out of the present Bauchi State 2. Amana State – to be created out of the present Adamawa State 3. Savanah State – to be created out of the present Borno State. Seventeen requests that attempted meeting the requirements of section 8 (1) (a) (i-iii), according to the committee. 1. Aba State 2. Adada State 3. Ado State 4. Apa State 5. Bori State 6. Edu State 7. Ghari State 8. Gurara State 9. Hadeija State 10. Ijebu State 11. Katagum State 12. Minji-se State 13. New Delta State 14. Oduduwa State 15. Oluwa State 16. Savannah State 17. Sombreiro State.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 10:33:24 +0000
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