Expect More States Before 2011

Senator Ayogu Eze, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, last Friday re-assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would create more states before the expiration of its tenure.

Eze said the National Assembly was determined to listen to the aspirations of the Nigerian people by acceding to their demand for the creation of more states.

“Once we finish with the phase of the amendment of the constitution, we will go to the next phase, which is the creation of states.

 “We are very serious about it since Nigerians are clamouring for the creation of more states.

“We are going to look at the issue of creation of states and see which request has met the benchmark as set out in the constitution and the procedures set out by the National Assembly.

“This time round, we are going to prove to Nigerians that truly, states can be created in a civilian dispensation,’’ he added.

On the transmission of the resolution by the Conference of Nigerian Speakers, Eze described the occasion as “a big turning point in the process of stabilising and deepening our democracy.

 “What we just witnessed today is a land mark achievement and I think the import should not be lost on everybody as the process of the alteration of the 1999 Constitution is on the home stretch.

“The transmission (resolution) by the speakers today marks a very big turning point in the process of trying to stabilise our democracy and deepen the practice of popular participation by the people of Nigeria.

“With the return of the resolution by the speakers, we will go to the next stage of ticking off those that got approval by two-third majority and those areas that fell short will be reprocessed and represented if we feel strongly about them,’’ he explained.