The Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review has approved the creation of six additional states in Nigeria.
The decision was one of the major resolutions reached at the end of a two-day retreat in Lagos at the weekend, co-chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
At the retreat, the committee considered 69 bills, 55 requests for the creation of new states, two proposals for boundary adjustments, and 278 requests for the creation of local governments.
Having considered the proposals for the creation of new states, the legislators, through a unanimous decision, resolved that one state be added in each of the six geopolitical zones North-West, North-East, North-Central, South-West, South-South, and South-East which would increase the number of states in the country from 36 to 42 if ratified.
According to the resolution, the South-South and South-West zones will each have seven states, the South-East will have six, the North-West will have eight, while the North-East and North-Central zones will each have seven.
The resolution will form part of the joint committee’s report to be presented to both chambers of the National Assembly in the first week of November.
To implement the decision, the committee also approved the establishment of a subcommittee to determine the specific areas where the six new states will be established.
The subcommittee to locate the proposed new states will be chaired by Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, the Chief Whip of the Senate.
A member of the subcommittee from the North assured that the committee would “scrutinize all 55 requests for the creation of states to come up with the areas where the six new states will be formed,” and that the exercise would be “equitable and just to all promoters of state creation.”
