A former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Yemi Farounbi has described as an unnecessary and undesirable exercise in futility the bill seeking the creation of three additional states in the South-West region of Nigeria.
Similarly, some civil society organisations also kicked against formation of more states in the country when the existing ones could barely pay workers’ salaries and address its lingering challenges.
The fresh bill, sponsored by the lawmaker representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Osun State, Oluwole Oke, has been listed for presentation in the House of Representatives.
The proposed law is seeking the creation of Oke-Ogun, Ijebu and Ife-Ijesa states.
The proposed legislation is titled “A Bill for an Act to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.
It seeks an amendment to the First Schedule, Part I of the Constitution to read, “The First Schedule, Part I of the Constitution is amended by introducing new states and reducing the number of local government areas.”
In the draft bill, Oke-Ogun State with Iseyin as the proposed capital city would be made up of 12 local government areas, including Olorunsogo, Irepo, Oorerelope, Ogbomosho North, Ogbomosho South, Saki-East, Saki-West, Atisbo, Itesiwaju, Iwajowa, Kajola and Iseyin.
On the other hand, Ijebu State, when created, will comprise Ijebu East, Ijebu North-East, Ijebu Ode, Ikenne, Odogbolu, Ogun Waterside, Remo North and Sagamu LGAs. The proposed capital city for Ijebu State is Ijebu Ode.
According to Oke, who chairs the House Committee on Judiciary, Ife Ijesa State is to be made of 11 LGAs made up of Atakunmosa East, Atakunmosa West, Boluwaduro, Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North, Ife South, Ilesa East, Ilesa West, Obokun and Oriade.
In a letter dated February 6, 2024, and addressed to the Clerk of the House, Oke wrote, “I wish to forward the above mentioned bill to your office for further necessary legislative action to enable me to move in our great Green Chamber, sir.”
The South-West geo-political zone is currently made up of six federating states, which are Ondo, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states.
If Oke’s bill scales legislative hurdles, the region would surpass the North-West, which currently has seven states, the highest among the other zones of North-Central, North-East, South-West, South-South-South and South-East.
Section 9 (1) of the Constitution states that the National Assembly can only pass an Act to amend the Constitution when its proposal is supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each chamber (72 senators and 240 House of Representatives members) and approved by the resolution of at least two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly (24 states).
Currently, the National Assembly is in the process of amending the constitution. A key component of the 10th Assembly’s Legislative Agenda unveiled by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, in November 2023 is constitution amendment. The Constitutional Review Committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, is slated for inauguration on February 26, 2023.
Reacting, however, in their separate interviews with The Point, Farounbi and some civil rights activists opined that creation of more states would place more economic burden on the country and sought the rejection of the bill.
For Farounbi, restructuring is the solution to the problems confronting Nigeria.
He said, “Our problem in Nigeria is that of poor foundational structures and which is yielding symptoms of economic stagflation, chronic insecurity and stunted growth. In a normal federation, it is the federating units that agree to cede some of their powers to create the Centre. But in a completely distorted and malformed Nigerian federation, it is the Centre that creates federating units. And this power has been used to weaken the federating units into irrelevance and beggarly position.
“What we need in Nigeria is a restructuring that takes so much power and resources from the center to the federating units. What we need is a strengthening of the federating units to become effective counter-balance to the center.
“It is certainly an unnecessary diversion from the enormous structural, systemic economic, security and infrastructural problems confronting Nigeria to begin a journey to nowhere in the name of state creation. It has been impossible to create ordinary LGAs under the 1999 Constitution, not to talk of creating states. It is an unnecessary and undesirable exercise in futility.”
The spokesperson of a group, Osun Masterminds, Ayo Ologun said the nation should “rather do more at strengthening the existing states and making them more viable economically and infrastructurally rather than creating more states that will suffer nonperformance and put more developmental burden on the federal government.”
He stated, “What Hon. Wole Oke did though in good faith is not the direction the nation should be headed at the moment. No doubt that more states needs be created to get governance closer to the people but in the light of our reality that smells of lack, insufficiency and instability, we should rather do more at strengthening the states and making them more viable economically and infrastructural rather than creating more states that will suffer nonperformance and put more developmental burden on the federal government.”
