A former member of the House of Representatives, Barth Nnanna, has strongly opposed the proposed creation of 31 additional states, arguing that it would be unmanageable, cumbersome, and chaotic for Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with Punch, Nnanna, who represented Ogbaru Federal Constituency of Anambra State from 1999 to 2003, dismissed the plan as ill-advised, stating that what Nigeria needs is a return to a regional system of government, not additional states.
Nnanna further pointed out that the proposal was not balanced, noting that the South-East was shortchanged compared to other regions.
Rather than creating more states, Nnanna called for a return to the regional system of government, where federating units would have greater autonomy over their resources and administration.
Naija News reports that Nnanna joins a growing list of critics who have condemned the proposal by the House of Representatives Constitution Review Committee to create 31 additional states.
He said, “We look at the proposal and we can say that proposing additional 31 states to join the already existing 36 states will be too unwieldy to manage. Most of the existing 36 states are not viable and can’t stand on their own with the exception of three states, every other states depend on the handout from Abuja for survival and now they are proposing additional 31 states.
“What we had expected them to do is to first balance the states of the geopolitical regions. For instance, like the South-East that has five states should be giving additional states to balance the equation.
“Even with the proposal, it means South-East will given additional five states totalling 10 states. It means the region will be trailing North-West and South-West which may likely have 14 states each. You can see it is not balanced and there is no equity in the whole thing.
“Anyway, it is still a proposal; it will still be subjected to public scrutiny and acceptance. When it comes to that stage, the people will either accept it or reject it. But the truth is Nigeria doesn’t need additional states at the moment.”
Another former member of the House of Representatives, Ogbona Nwuke, said Governors may not support the creation of additional states.
Nwuke, who represented Etche-Omuma Federal Constituency of Rivers State in the Green Chamber, also questioned the viability of the proposed states.
He said, “It is very clear that state creation will not be possible without the support of the governors. And the way it stands state governors may not back state creation.
“Anyway, as we speak, not all states appear to be viable. And to talk about that number of states being created, if that is the will of the people across the country, then one will perhaps say there is nothing wrong with that. But let me note that state creation has never been handled by any civilian administration in Nigeria
“And previous attempts to create states have also not been successful. So, it will be nice to see what stakeholders will say when the issue of states creation is tabled before them.
“But looking at history, most states created in the country were by fiat by the military and none has been created by any civilian administration.”
Asked if he supports the creation of more states, he added, “We have six geo-political zones and we know that in the South East has been clamouring for one additional state.
“Now, in order to achieve a level of balance, which is missing at this time, we need to know the number of states because there has to be some balancing with Nigeria’s geographical expression.
“So, it is a critical matter, very serious matter which will demand more information, additional information on how the committee came to that number of states and then how those states will be distributed when it comes to Nigeria’s geo-political spread.”
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