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NASS Gets 45 New States Request
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, says the National Assembly has so far received 45 requests for the creation of new states by various groups across the country.
Ekweremadu disclosed this on Saturday while speaking on the subject “Constitution Amendment and State Creation’’, at a public lecture organised by the Otu Oka’Iwu, an association of South East lawyers in Lagos.
A statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser, Media, Mr Uche Anichukwu, quoted him as saying that 34 of the requests were intra-state demands, seven were inter-state while four cut across geo-political zones.
He listed minority fears, demand for equity, need for speedy development, quest for political empires and elites’ influence as some of the key factors responsible for the proliferation of states since independence and the agitation for more.
The Deputy Senate President who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on State Creation noted that Nigeria would become a federation of 81 States should all the requests be granted.
He said the National Assembly would during the review of the constitution, address critical issues, such as federalism, devolution of powers, local government administration, structural imbalances and the creation of state police, among others.
Ekweremadu, however, observed that there were still contentious national questions to be addressed.
Some of these, he said, included the propriety of retaining the present 36 states structure, the creation of new ones or a return to regional administration based on the existing six geo-political zones.
“Has the creation of more states allayed the fears of minorities and the feelings of marginalisation and domination.
“Has it resulted to 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.
Ekweremadu also noted that the nation was not ready to accept a return to regional governance as a panacea to the dwindling fortunes of the country, and demanded that whatever direction the country would take must be based on equity.
“The South East should be treated fairly and equally through the principle of equity in which all geopolitical zones have equal numbers of states’’, he charged.
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