Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, says the National Assembly has so far received 45 requests for the creation of new states by various groups from 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 interstate while four cut across geo-political zones.
He listed minority fears, demand for equity, need for speedy development and 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 noted that Nigerian would, therefore, 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 which needed 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?”
“Importantly too, is the proliferation of states and even are the extant ones viable and self-sustainable, at a time the global trend is aggressively moving towards the contraction of the size of government and cost of governance”, he asked.
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.
However, Ekweremadu is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review.
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High cost of governance must not be allowed to perpepuate structural imbalance and inequity in a country, elsem the country is engulfed in endless underdevelopment if not in series of serious crisis arising from groups grudge against the State.
OBJ’s presidency singled out the need for another state in the southeast to address the imbalance in Nigeria’s political structure. The senate constitution amendment committee then adopted the process of creating a new state in the southeast, before the baby was thrown away with the bath tub.
If Ekweremadu and his senate want Nigeria good, they should set about creating a new state in the southeast for a begining now.