National Assembly recieves 47 requests for state creation

The National Assembly joint committee on the review of the constitution will next week meet to consider modalities for the consideration of 47 requests for additional state creation. Sources disclosed that the joint committee could not take any action on further amendment of the 1999 constitution last year because the National Assembly did not budget for the committee in the 2011 appropriation.

 It was learnt that the joint committee is in a dilemma on how to handle the request for additional states considering complaints and threat of bankruptcy of some existing states in the country. The committee, it was learnt, has lined up series of public enlightenment towards further amendment of the constitution and to let agitators of additional states know the implications of having more states.

 Sources revealed that prominent Nigerians have been piling pressures on the leadership of the National Assembly, especially the Senate President David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to ensure theirs would be among states likely to be created, but the lawmakers have not yet decided on the issue. 

 State creation was not considered during the last amendment of the constitution which only dealt with the tenure of the president and governors in the case of the death of the president or the governor. The last amendment also gave autonomy to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and made its funding first line charge. 

 Mark at the commencement of the seventh Senate June last year told Nigerians that the major concern of the present National Assembly would be the amendment of the constitution. Sources disclosed that the joint committee would soon call for memoranda from Nigerians, groups and organisations for likely areas needing amendment in the constitution.

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FEAR OF DIVISION? Nigerians move for creation of more states.

The National Assembly has received 45 memoranda requesting the creation of new states from the existing 36 states of the federation.

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who stated this at a public lecture organised by a group of lawyers of the South East extraction in Lagos on Friday, said the requests were presented to the National Assembly by various groups from different parts of the country.

Speaking on 'Constitution Amendment and State Creation,' Ekweremadu, who is the Chairman of the Senate's Constitution Review Committee, said about 34 of such memoranda were intra-state demands, seven interstate, while four cut across geopolitical zones.

According to him, minority fears, search for equity, speedy development and quest for political empires and influence by the elite are some of the key factors responsible for the proliferation of states and the agitations for more since independence.

He noted that Nigeria would therefore become a federation of 81 states should all the requests be granted.

Raising fundamental questions on the state creation debate, Ekweremadu stated, “Has the creation of more states allayed the fears of minorities and the feelings of marginalisation and domination?

“Has it resulted in good governance and speedier development at state levels than we had before?

“If it is meant to bring governance closer to the people, what then is the essence of the local government areas? Importantly too, is the proliferation of states and even the extant ones viable and self-sustainable?

“Again, at a time the global trend is aggressively moving towards the contraction of the size of government and cost of governance and at a time the nation is already sweating profusely under the yoke of unwieldy size of government at the federal, state, and local levels, can we really sustain the status-quo let alone create new burdens?”

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