- Why new states will prove difficult for Nigeria, provoke more secession agitation – Analysts
As the National Assembly contemplates creation of additional states, some political analysts have said their realization would be difficult to achieve, adding that even if achieved, more states may be dissatisfied and join the raging agitation for secession from the country.
They also argued that it would be an invitation to severe hardship if additional states were formed from the existing states, which they described as being unviable economically.
Nigeria’s House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review last week proposed the creation of 31 new states in the country.
If the proposal scales through, the Nigerian state will be made up of 67 sub-national governments as the country’s current states stand at 36, including the Federal Capital Territory.
The proposal for new states was contained in a letter read during plenary by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the session in the absence of the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.
Kalu had in a letter he read during the plenary said the House received proposals for an additional six new states in the North Central, four in the North East, five in the North West, five in the South-South, and seven in the South West.
“Establishment of additional states in the country when most of the existing ones are struggling to pay salaries, tackle hunger and engender good governance, is adding more woes on the suffering masses”
The states being considered include Okun State, Okura State, and Confluence State from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa States from Benue; FCT State; Amana State from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi State; Savannah State from Borno; and Muri State from Taraba State.
Others are New Kaduna State and Gujarat State from Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari from Kano; Kainji from Kebbi State; Etiti and Orashi as the 6th state in the South East; Adada from Enugu State; and Orlu and Aba from the South East.
Also included in the requests are Ogoja from Cross River State, Warri from Delta State, Ori and Obolo from Rivers State, Torumbe from Ondo State, Ibadan from Oyo State, Lagoon from Lagos State, and Ogun, Ijebu from Ogun State, and Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun states.
Findings by The Point revealed that the procedure for creation of states in a civilian administration is not the same as what was obtainable during the military era.
Historically, Nigeria’s journey into operating a multi-state dated back to 1967 when the Head of State at that time, General Yakubu Gowon, created 12 states through a military decree. Before then, when Nigeria got independence in 1960, the country was divided into three regions, namely the Northern, Western, and Eastern. This was before the Mid-Western region was added in 1963.
In 1976, the military government created another seven new states, followed by two new states in 1987 and another nine new states in 1991, making them 30 states.
The last time the Nigerian government created new states was in 1996 when six new states were added to make the present 36 states.
The latest six states created in 1996 were Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nasarawa, and Zamfara.
As the fresh proposal for creation of additional 31 states in the country has been hinted at, political analysts have said the implementation would pose some difficulties.
An expert, Lekan Ojo, called on the Federal Government to concentrate more on making the existing 36 states to be capable of functioning well, rather than embarking on additional states that would be problematic for the nation.
Offering arguments against the move, Ojo said, “It will be very difficult for a civilian administration to create additional states because of ethnic, religious, cultural, and political interests. For instance in Osun State, there are some sections of towns that are predominantly Muslims, and there are parts of other towns that are predominantly Christians. By the time you want to create a new state out of Ijesaland, the Christians will agitate against it. If it is a governor’s support base that wants to create more states, the opposition will rise up against it. Many will see it as enlarging the governor’s political base. At the end of the day, there will be problems in the debate and in the House of Representatives. When it comes to the issue of public hearing, there will be problems too.
“None of these 30 proposals have met the requirements of Section 8 and that was why we decided to bring it to the notice of Nigerians that your application before us is ineffective”
“For example, today, the North West has seven states already, the North East has six, South West has six, South East has five, South-South has six, North Central has six, so, unless they want to make the states equilibrium, the senators from all these zones will rise up against the proposal and during public hearing, the zones that feel cheated will rise against the proposal.”
Going back memory lane on the creation of states and explaining why it was easy for the military governments to create new states for the country, the analyst stated, “It was very easy during the military era because they were not consulting with anybody. The Head of State can just wake up one morning and inform the Federal Executive Council, who are also military and say this is what I want to do. Everyone will say yes sir. It was easy during that period but it won’t be easy in a civilian government. When you look at all those states where they have local government development councils in Nigeria, you will see that each of these councils will be divided. These are the reasons why it may not scale through.
“But, if accidentally, it scales through, what is going to be the economic viability of the new states? What is the economic viability of Osun, Ekiti, Taraba, Adamawa and Gombe States? Most of these states could not even pay the N30, 000 minimum wage. So, when you now divide these states into two, you have divided poverty into two. Once a state is divided into two and the existing state has 20 ministries, that means you will have 20 ministries created for the new state and 20 permanent secretaries appointed, you will also need more than 20 buildings for secretariats, you will also need directors and other workers and the question is, from what economy will you get the money for all these projects?
“Lagos, Ogun are the only major viable states. Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Imo, Abia are partially viable because they belong to the Niger Delta. When you go up North, for instance Kano or Katsina, I can say it is the only one that is economically viable. So, why do you want to create more states? Most of the states in Nigeria today are not bigger than Ikeja, Apapa, Etiosa, Obiakpor and Port-Harcourt City Local Government Areas in Lagos and Rivers States in terms of economic viability when put together.
“If you have five children and you could comfortably feed only two, and somebody is telling you to go and bear 15 children, for the same economic value, you now want the same children to become slaves. Nigeria today, with the economy that is like zero, creating more states is like creating more poverty and when you create more poverty, you create more insecurity,” he further argued.
Similarly, another political pundit, Bello Maisudan, contended that Nigeria does not need new states.
According to Maisudan, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano, there are four criteria a nation should consider before thinking of creating a new state.
He said these factors are demand, population, land size, and self-sufficiency.
“If you consider these four factors, you would agree with me that we do not need new states. Even of the 36 states we have currently, how many of them meet the criteria, especially the ability to sustain themselves without the Federal Government’s support?” Maisudan asked.
“In my opinion, if new states would be created, there should not be more than five, considering other factors such as population and the complaint of marginalisation of small ethnic groups by the majority ones,” he added.
The don noted that even though creation of states has some benefits, he maintained that the disadvantages outweigh their benefits.
Some of the disadvantages, according to him, are that creating new states would add more to the cost of governance especially because some of the existing states need support from the Federal Government to sustain themselves.
Another fear he expressed is that other areas in Nigeria may join the agitation for secession from the country.
Other Nigerians across all walks of life have asked the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review to perish the idea of creating more states in the country.
According to the citizens, the establishment of additional states in the country when most of the existing ones are struggling to pay salaries, tackle hunger and engender good governance, is adding more woes on the suffering masses.
In their separate interviews with The Point, some Nigerians expressed concerns over the development, asking the federal government and lawmakers to rather channel their energy into addressing worsening hardship and high rate of unemployment in the nation.
A civil servant in Osun State who did not want to be named argued that more states in the nation should be merged since most governors still struggle to pay salaries.
He said, “I was baffled reading the news that the legislative arm is trying to create additional states. Sometimes I wonder if these lawmakers live in this country and know what people are battling with. In a situation where most governors find it difficult to pay minimum wage, some people are talking of bringing more states to bear. It is a misplaced priority that should not be allowed to stand.”
Other speakers described the move to add to the list of states in Nigeria as an invitation to problems and opportunities for politicians to continue milking the nation’s scarce resources.
For Thomas Akindele, a self-employed Lagosian, “The National Assembly cannot propose the creation of industries and jobs for the people, but creation of state? This is what you get when you take your grandfathers from the villages to come and lead you.”
A businessman in Ondo State, Joshua Emelobe, stated, “These people (lawmakers) just want to create problems. When we should be talking about merging the existing states that have proved not viable over time, some not-so-engaged reps members are talking about creating 31 more states in Nigeria.”
Matins, a trader in Abuja canvassed for states to be allowed to depend solely on the resources in the states, saying, “That is because we don’t allow states to function on their own. The moment the government allows all states to control their resources and manage their affairs, our economy will improve. States with oil will manage their oil; lazy governors will no longer wait for allocation from the federal government.”
He added, “The last thing the country needs now is the creation of more states. Are these politicians even aware of the general hardship in the country? They should be proposing ways to counter poverty and create more jobs.”
A fashion designer in Osogbo, who simply identified herself as Rebecca, said, “If Nigeria is broke and there is not enough money to alleviate the suffering of the people, where will the money to administer the new states come from? And how will the agitation for new states down the line be handled? I don’t believe this is in the interest of the people.”
However, a citizen, Marcus Ibenje, differed from earlier respondents, saying creation of more states would reshape the nation.
“The proposal to create 31 additional states in Nigeria is a significant move that could reshape the country’s political and administrative structure. If approved, it would have major implications for governance, resource allocation, and representation,” he contended.
Speaking on the development, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Alex Ogbonnia, reiterated the position of the apex Igbo socio-cultural body.
He lamented that the zone has been shortchanged for many years, and that Ohanaeze’s position on the matter is that the zone has lost so much as a result.
“We have lost billions of naira in terms of the number of local government areas, the number of states, the number of representations in the National Assembly and the number of appointments as ministers and other patronages.
“Above all, each time they go for a national convention, the South East presents the least number of delegates compared to other zones. So, Ohanaeze’s position is that the South East needs at least one more state,” he argued.
He, however, insisted that what was more paramount was how to restructure the country, so that agitations for state creation would cease once and for all.
“Beyond the issue of state creation, what we are talking about is true federalism, where every state will have the authority over its revenue and expenditure profile, so that it will be able to tap its mineral resources.
“But, all these notions of having a cash cow only amount to eating the cake, not baking the cake; and that creates more problems.
“People are not resourceful anymore; but with true federalism, each federating unit will work hard and go into a kind of competition.”
He also noted that if there is any region that needs more states in Nigeria today, it would be the South East, insisting that anything short of that amounts to being inconsiderate on the part of anybody thinking otherwise.
“This is because if you are talking about Nigeria today, the only shortchanged zone is the South East.
“Anybody talking about creation of more states anywhere outside the South East zone is not being considerate.
“So, our position, which is valid, is that the South East should be granted at least one more state to bring it to the same status with other zones, with the exception of the North West,” he argued.
But for the president of Middle Belt Forum, Pogu Bitrus, the 2014 confab report is the magic wand.
“Those of us in the Middle Belt made our demands. What we are saying is that the government should restructure the country. And by restructuring the country, all the federating units, in this case, the states, will now seek to be viable and contribute to the centre.
“We are going to have a more workable country than this one where some people are just using the federal might to dominate others. So, what we are saying is that we should go back to the 2014 confab, and get the solution to all the people’s concerns and fears.”
He added that “all those requests, including those of the South East are contained in the 2014 confab report, and I believe that revisiting it will address the issues of all parts of the country, because it is a more representative report.
“Even the Nasir El Rufai report, which came after and which was done by the All Progressives Congress under former President Muhammadu Buhari, still provided for restructuring, just that the 2014 confab report is more holistic. The 2014 confab report would address the concerns of the South West, South East, South South, North East, North West and North Central,” he further argued.
Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has faulted the agitation for states’ creation, describing the proposal as a misplaced priority.
According to him, instead, lawmakers and other political stakeholders should be concerned about restructuring Nigeria into a regional government to reflect the real diversity of the country.
He added that he was not in support of additional states because most of the 36 states are economically unviable, insolvent, and not capable of bringing about infrastructural development or even paying the proposed minimum wage.
“State creation at this present harsh economic will, no doubt, lead to an increase in the number of National Assembly members, ministers, local governments, and others, which would further increase the cost of governance in the country.
“This is coming at a time when most Nigerians are starving due to rising food prices. Insurgents, bandits, and terrorists are abducting people for ransom in other states of the country.
“Therefore, the National Assembly should, instead, return the country to regionalism by collapsing the 36 states into six to eight regions or geopolitical zones, each of which will have a leader.
“This means that the present Nigerian 1999 Constitution would be amended or a new one written to accommodate this proposal.
“This is because making a new constitution for Nigeria has become an overriding imperative based on the fact that new political realities and conundrums have cropped up in the country,” Agbakoba said.
Proposals for 30 new states didn’t meet constitutional requirements — Reps
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has clarified that none of the 30 proposals for new states met the constitutional requirements, stressing that it has not taken a position on the issue.
The lower chamber also clarified that media reports that it is proposing the creation of 31 new states were inaccurate and misrepresents the legislative process.
The House said that it is ultimately in the place of the Nigerian people to push their proposals through and take an informed decision on the contemporary issue of state creation.
Speaking during an interview on Friday in Abuja, Kalu, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Constitution Review, said the 30 proposals for state creation read during Thursday’s plenary session of the House was to inform Nigerians about the number of applications so far received.
Providing clarification on the issue, the Deputy Speaker said that the applications are 30 and not 31 as erroneously reported.
He, however, said that none of the 30 proposals for new states met the constitutional requirements.
Kalu, therefore, urged the applicants to comply with the constitutional procedures outlined in Section 8, subsections 1 to 3 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), informing that the parliament is giving the applicants until March 5 to rectify the gaps in their applications.
The deputy speaker noted that to create a new state, the Constitution requires a two-third majority vote in the Senate, the House of Representatives, State Houses of Assembly, and local governments.
Kalu said that parliament is committed to following the procedure and is inviting the applicants to resubmit their proposals once they have complied with the constitutional guidelines.
He said, “We are the people’s parliament. We are not taking any position on the issue of creation of states. We have heard a lot of people giving different narratives to the letter that was read. Let me clear the dust. During the Ninth Assembly, we received more requests for state creation and some of them came through private member bills. Some came from the memoranda we called for and in this Tenth Assembly, we have received 30, not 31. I think, on that list, they repeated Ibadan State twice. It is 30 that we have received.
“But having received that, in the last Assembly, people did not know why their request for state creation did not go through. In this Tenth Assembly, we decided to let the people know that granted, we have received all the applications for new states to be created either through member bills or the memoranda but not conceding that all of them are good enough to be created. There are constitutional procedures in Section 8 subsection 1 to 3 on how this application should be made.
“As we speak, none of these 30 proposals have met the requirements of Section 8 and that was why we decided to bring it to the notice of Nigerians that your application before us is ineffective. Therefore, you need to comply with Section 8 so that when we don’t consider the state creation request, you will know where it emanated from. So, the notice to the public is that you have between now and March 5 to enable you to cure the gaps in your application for state creation.”