The leadership of the Senate has again rekindled hope that the National Assembly can still create states in the country despite its former position that the current federal legislature will not create any.
The chairman of the Senate Constitution Review Committee and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, last week reopened the debate on the issue with the statement that the National Assembly could create more states.
Ekweremadu made the disclosure when he received a delegation of the proposed Bori State Movement led by Dr. Cyrus Nunieh Gbene. He told the delegation that new states could be created provided that such requests fulfilled the provisions set out in Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution.
As much as Ekweremadu’s statement is welcome, the matter of state creation is one issue on which he has variously contradicted himself. His vacillations, and that of the Senate, on the possibility of the creation of new states make it difficult to determine their true position on the matter.
We do not want to think the Upper Legislative Chamber simply enjoys playing to the gallery on the matter. We recall that for a long time, the leadership of the Senate has been equivocating on the issue of creation of states. In one breadth, it will pronounce that states will be created and yet in another, it will declare that none will be created.
While prominent members of the Senate, especially its principal officers like the Senate President, David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, are free to comment on any national issue, the matter of state creation is one that should not be trivialized or politicized. The leadership of the Upper Legislative House has often made contradictory statements on state creation.
It is high time the Senate clearly informs Nigerians if, indeed, it will create states or not. Continuing equivocation on a matter as serious as state creation, as demonstrated by the House leadership, does not in any way help matters.
Telling every state creation movement that visits the National Assembly that new states will be created, while nothing concrete is being done in that direction, is not the best approach to solving the problem of the many demands for new states. There should be no room for public entertainment on the issue of state creation.
But then, this is not to detract from the genuineness of some of the demands for more states. There is no doubt that there are some parts of the country that have good reasons to demand for more states.
One of the areas is the South-East geo-political zone. The zone is the only one with five states, while four zones have six, and the North-West has seven. The imbalance in the number of states and local governments in the six geo-political zones does not augur well for a balanced federation.
The need for equity and balance accounts for the plethora of state creation requests. This is an issue the National Assembly should not wish away. At the last count, the requests for new states in the country had ballooned to 61. One argument against state creation is that most of the existing ones are not economically viable, as they all troop to Abuja at the end of every month to share oil revenue. Another argument is that more states will translate to more bureaucracies and increase the cost of government.
These, however, do not vitiate the need to create additional states where they are necessary. This is one assignment the National Assembly should not trifle with. The provisions of Section 8 (1) paragraphs a-d of the 1999 Constitution are quite explicit on how new states can be created in the country.
Therefore, we do not accept the position that the Constitution is too rigid and makes creation of new states impossible. If this section of the constitution is, indeed, too cumbersome to implement, let it be amended to enable the National Assembly create new states. We do not believe that the constitution is so difficult to amend as is being bandied in some quarters.
The National Assembly should be serious with the issue of state creation. Creation of states will bring government nearer to the people and engender socio-economic development. This matter should not be politicized. It is either the Senate makes up its mind on state creation or stops the double-speak on the issue. It should not continue dishing out contradictory statements on the matter. The paradoxical pronouncements on state creation are unhelpful.
The people need a definitive statement and action on the issue. Enough of the double-speak.
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