Thirteen new states have been proposed which if implemented will bring the number of states in Nigeria to 49 from the current 36.
The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review on Thursday said it has received proposals to create new states out of Benue, Kogi, FCT, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno and Taraba States respectively.
Other states affected are Kaduna, Cross River, Delta, Rivers, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Enugu, among others.
The Chairman of the committee and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, disclosed this to members while reading a letter from the committee’s clerk during plenary.
He said the Committee has received a proposal for additional new six states in the North Central; 4 in the North East; 5 in the North West; 5 in South East; 4 in the South South and 7 in the South West.
The new states been proposed and considered are Okun, Okura, and Confluence States from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa States from Benue; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Amana State from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi; Savannah State from Borno; and Muri State from Taraba.
Additionally, there are proposals for New Kaduna State and Gujarat State from Kaduna; Tiga and Ari from Kano; Kainji from Kebbi; Etiti and Orashi as the sixth state in the South East; Adada from Enugu; as well as Orlu and Aba, also from the South East.
Other proposed states include Ogoja from Cross River; Warri from Delta; Ori and Obolo from Rivers; Torumbe from Ondo; Ibadan from Oyo; Lagoon from Lagos and Ogun; Ijebu from Ogun; and Oke Ogun/Ijesha, spanning Oyo, Ogun, and Osun States.
The committee in the letter outlined the criteria that must be met to initiate state creation process.
Among the requirements include: “An act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new state shall only be passed if it requires support by at least the third majority of members.
“The House of Representatives, the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area, is received by the National Assembly. Local Government Advocates for the creation of additional local government areas are only reminded that Section 8 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, applies to this process.
In accordance with Section 8.3 of the Constitution, the results of votes from the State Houses of Assembly during the referendum must be submitted to the National Assembly to facilitate the fulfillment of state demands.
All proposals must be resubmitted in strict compliance with the outlined stipulations. A full proposal of the memoranda, including three hard copies, should be submitted to the Secretariat of the Committee at Room H331, House of Representatives, White House, National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
Additionally, digital copies must be sent via email to the Committee at info.hccr.gov.nj.
The Committee remains dedicated to supporting efforts that align with the provisions of the Constitution and will only consider proposals that fully adhere to the established guidelines.
