Do Not Make Nigeria 67 States; Not Necessary

Nigeria, please do not do it and take the number of states to 67: “In what appears to be one of the most radical proposals in Nigeria’s political history, the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution has put forward a plan to create 31 additional states, bringing Nigeria’s total to 67 states.”

The Proposed New States Across Nigeria

North-Central:
Benue Ala (from Benue State)
Okun (from Kogi State)
Okura (from Kogi State)
Confluence (from Kogi State)
Apa-Agba (from Benue South Senatorial District)
Apa (from Benue State)
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (to be recognized as a full-fledged state)

North-East:
Amana (from Adamawa State)
Katagum (from Bauchi State)
Savannah (from Borno State)
Muri (from Taraba State)

North-West:
New Kaduna and Gurara (from Kaduna State)
Tiga (from Kano State)
Kainji (from Kebbi State)
Ghari (from Kano State)

South-East:
Etiti (as the 6th state in the South-East)
Adada (from Enugu State)
Urashi (as the 6th state in the South-East)
Orlu (from the South-East region)
Aba (from the South-East region)

South-South:
Ogoja (from Cross River State)
Warri (from Delta State)
Bori (from Rivers State)
Obolo (from Rivers and Akwa Ibom States)

South-West:
Toru-Ebe (from Delta, Edo, and Ondo States)
Ibadan (from Oyo State)
Lagoon (from Lagos State)
Ijebu (from Ogun State)
Another Lagoon (from Lagos and Ogun States)
Another Ibadan (from Oyo State)
Oke-Ogun and Ife-Ijesha (from Ogun, Oyo, and Osun States)

In my thesis, I do think Nigeria should even convert to 6 states, from the current 36 states. Why? The small states we have now do not have capacity to do anything worthwhile. But at a regional-state level, greater things can happen. Sure, that will reduce the number of governors, aides, etc [the reason that will not fly] but it will help the evolved states to dream bigger projects and get them done.

What we call states now excluding Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta and maybe two extra, have no capacity for generation-shaping projects because they have no capacity. Then imagine dividing them further! Nigeria should not add more states.

Comment on Feed

Comment: On the contrary, the more States we have, the faster the urbanization and infrastructural development we will have.

My Response: Which infrastructure has Nigeria built in the capitals of Zamfara, Abia, Bayelsa, etc since they were created. Having buildings with exotic cars possibly means “urbanization and infras development” for you. But before that era, states BUILT factories, dams, catalytic projects that required huge sums. Today, states do not have that capacity. They only build markets, junctions and supply kekes. Just name one major project in any state created by Abacha in the last batch to 36 states.

We have local government areas to drive rural development. But that has not happened as your family budget is possibly bigger than most LGAs’

Response #1: I do believe your thesis of faster urbanization and infra development, but if you look at the current prevailing data the states we have today can’t fund themselves, most of them have transitioned into a parasitic kind of relationship with other states and the center.

If we look closely, the HoA that is proposing this move are only thinking about been governors or making their cronies governors and hoping to maintain this current system of governance where the states will survive anyhow.

I am of the opinion like Ndubuisi Ekekwe that if the states are merged into productive units, the tendency to grow faster and develop better will be more.

Response #2: , the more states you have, the more the cost of governance. The more the cost of governance, the less the resources that will be available for development, considering that the current structure already consists of states that are not independently self-sustaining…

Follow the logic.

It is the same logic we employ in Business Process Optimization: elimination of duplicate processes. More states means “duplicating” roles that already exist when there is already low capacity utilisation for such tasks. If you analyse the human resource utilisation of the existing state civil servants and politicians, it would not be out of place to suggest that for every 6 civil servants and politicians today, there should be 1.
Now this brings us back to @Ndubuisi Ekekwe’s suggestion of shrinking the structure to 6 states instead.

Comment: The unification decree of May 1966 promulgated by Aguiyi Ironsi that banned regionalism has destroyed a lot of things.
Prof, where do we go from here?

My Response: That is an easy way of looking at what General Ironsi did. From the thesis of the decree, it was not designed for development, but rather to reverse any sense of regionalization. So, he did put a military style solution towards de-emphasising regions after the coup. So, your thesis when you read the whole context of the decree may not be balanced. As a miliary, he wanted ONE nation, and not a nation of regions. It was not a development playbook, but possibly a unity one after a coup, trying to quench fire.

That said, whatever he did at the fangs of an exploding nation, Nigeria in 1979 had a constitution and could have made changes. Also, when Gen Gowon assumed the position of head of state, he could have reversed whatever decree Gen Ironi put across. Gen Ironsi spent less than 7 months but Gen Gowon ran the show for at least 8 years.

I think the 1979 Constitution is to be blamed and not what the generals did as they were not really focusing on development, but holding the country together.

Nigeria’s House of Representatives Proposes Creation of 31 Additional States

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