By Omoniyi Salaudeen and Daniel Kanu
By fashionable demand or imaginary concoction of the lawmakers within the National Assembly, 31 extra states are actually within the offing. The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, learn out the listing of the brand new requests over the past plenary to the chagrin of most Nigerians.
If the invoice proposing the state creation scales the hurdles of legislative debate and different constitutional necessities, the federating models in Nigeria will improve to 67, together with the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The proposal, which is now a speaking level within the polity, has been greeted with uproarious reactions from throughout numerous stakeholders. Unlike within the earlier botched makes an attempt, the raging debate just isn’t concerning the desirability or in any other case of the requests, however the seeming lack of restraint exhibited by the lawmakers in proposing the brand new states.
Based on the expertise of the 2 successive dispensations, stakeholders had anticipated the lawmakers to be extra circumspect in dealing with the deluge of agitations which have at all times adopted any proposal for state creation.
However, unmindful of the elements that led to the failure of the earlier makes an attempt, the House Committee on Constitution modification went the additional mile, arising with a proposal for 31 further states to the prevailing 36.
Whatever causes behind the requests, the proposal underscores two main basic points: over politicization and the poor understanding of the financial and monetary implications of the creation of an unwieldy variety of states.
This could possibly be both that the legislators intentionally feigned ignorance of the stringent situations, feelings and sentiments connected to it or the constituents they characterize desperately needed their share of the nation’s cake which no one is able to bake anyway.
To start with, what are these new states bringing to the desk on the centre to have the ability to construct a nationwide cake that will be sufficiently big to go spherical? What is the monetary viability of those so-called new states? These elements are important to any decision-making course of about state creation as a result of making a state with out consideration to those points will solely quantity to constructing one thing on nothing.
Currently, solely six states in Nigeria are economically and financially viable.
According to current National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stories, the states are Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Kaduna, Kwara, Oyo, and Edo. They persistently rank excessive when it comes to Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), indicating a powerful native financial system. Lagos is taken into account probably the most economically viable state because of its excessive IGR and enormous industrial exercise, whereas Ogun which is usually talked about as the highest funding vacation spot after Lagos, advantages from its proximity to the nation’s industrial nerve centre. Rivers, Kaduna, Oyo, Edo preserve sustained vital financial exercise and excessive IGR.
Those on the decrease wrung of the ladder are mere appendages of the Federal Government, surviving largely on month-to-month handouts.
On account of the low chance of economic and financial self-sufficiency, a deluge of criticisms have continued to path the proposal for the creation of further states, which is able to in the end worsen the present dependency syndrome.
Prominent stakeholders, who spoke with Sunday Sun, roundly blamed the lawmakers for considering such, within the first occasion, leaving the pressing problems with nationwide significance unattended to.
A notable chief of thought within the Southeast, Chief Chekwas Okorie, piqued by the uninspiring situation that performed out within the House of Representatives on the final plenary, merely dismissed the train as a waste of invaluable time and power.
He stated: “Quite frankly, the difficulty of state creation just isn’t what Nigeria wants presently. It shall be a waste of invaluable time and power to undergo the hurdles of state creation. First of all, the Constitution must be amended earlier than anyone may even ponder state creation.
“It was the previous navy regimes; from Gowon to Abacha, that used navy fiat to create states. No civilian administration has been in a position to meet the stringent necessities intentionally put within the Constitution to make the creation of states be just like the proverbial camel passing by means of the attention of the needle.
“That is the quantity hurdle that those that are considering of state creation haven’t discovered. The lawmakers within the National Assembly ought to initially think about creating the framework that may make state creation potential.
“Secondly, the 36 states we have now together with Abuja are more and more changing into tough to function. Those who created them did it in such a approach that it offers sure part of the nation sure benefit. Northwest alone, as an example, has seven states. If you break it down, you can not see the justification for the creation of seven states in that a part of the nation. Except Kano and Kaduna, all of the others usually are not viable.
“While all different sections of the nation have six states every, the Southeast has 5 states. And the cry to stability this iniquity has fallen on deaf ears.
“Now, some persons are speaking about including 31 extra states to 36. They haven’t spent one second to persuade anyone about financial viability of the brand new states they’re proposing. To me, nothing could be extra nonsensical than that proposal. It is a ineffective proposal. I don’t count on it to get to the second studying.
“That speaks to the kind of legislators we have in the National Assembly. It simply means that these people are idle. It means they are not thinking of what will help to make the country better. For instance, I am yet to see new things they are bringing in to make the electoral process more transparent, more credible and more acceptable.”
Likewise, famend constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Prof Mike Ozekhome, didn’t spare the lawmakers with harsh phrases for his or her selfishness, describing them as Alawada, a Yoruba phrase for a jester. According to him, “only the Southeast region needs one additional state to correct the inherent injustices in the country’s “warped federalist system.”
He, due to this fact, dismissed the train as a unnecessary distraction from the existential crises going through the nation.
In an announcement made out there to Sunday Sun, Ozekhome stated: “I’m stunned and significantly disturbed to listen to that members of the NASS are proposing 31 further states to the current already behemoth, over-bloated and unwieldy 36-state construction that Nigeria operates.
“I see this unnecessary enterprise within the midst of extra important nationwide points as nothing, however jesters enjoying out Baba Sallah’s Alawada Kerikeri histrionics and buffoonery.
“How can they be speaking about creating further 31 states when over 2/3 of the current states are unviable entities current on life assist and merely depending on the centre for month-to-month oxygenation underneath Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution?
“How can we be speaking of going by means of the stringent provisions of Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution for a meaningless train that provides no worth to a nation gasping for existential breadth?
“How can they be speaking about creating new states when starvation, hunger, squalor and melancholy envelope inhabitants of the current minion states that actually beg for crumbs from the Abuja grasp’s desk?
“All that Nigeria needs now are only two things to correct the inherent injustices in our warped federalist system: one is additional state in the Southeast to equal others; and a brand new Constitution that is legitimate, people-driven.”
While dismissing the proposal as useless on arrival, he cautioned the National Assembly members to instantly drop the “provocative, funny and phoney butterflies-chasing and stop insulting our collective intelligence.”
Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, additionally faulted the proposal for the creation of 31 further states, describing it as pointless.
The elder statesman maintained that creation of further states wouldn’t resolve the nation’s challenges or promote its improvement.
His phrases: “Forget about extra states. We need to create extra states after which all people shall be speeding to Abuja. This just isn’t sustainable.
“Let us have a look at our federal construction first, the identical federal system we run with America. Why are we not working it as they run their very own?
“Go to New York City, the Mayor of New York controls the airport, the John Kennedy Airport, he controls the ports, the seaports.
“Go to New Orleans, the mayor they management the ports. The identical factor in Texas, all oil corporations usually are not managed by the president. That is federalism. Those individuals don’t run to Washington each hour to satisfy the president.
“In America, they have state police and even county police .Why can’t we have such here? Creation of more states is not sustainable. What we need now is to address the problems in our federal structure”.
George known as for the adoption of the suggestions of the 2014 Confab to attain true federalism and deal with the nation’s quite a few challenges.
Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, whereas additionally rejecting the proposal, stated that it contradicted its demand for a real federalism.
Abagun Kole Omololu, Afenifere’s nationwide organising secretary, advised Sunday Sun that creating extra states with out a viable financial basis would solely compound the monetary burden on the nation.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), expressing its opposition to the proposal, cited the nation’s complexity as a possible downside for creating extra states.
Prof Tukur Muhammad-Baba, ACF’s nationwide publicity secretary, stated that the group questioned the financial viability of the prevailing 36 states and highlighted the executive burdens and overhead prices related to governance and civil service.
The National President of the Middle Belt Forum, “Bitrus Pogu, emphasised the necessity for a extra inclusive and consultant system of presidency.
In the identical vein, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum maintained that the creation of extra states could possibly be significant provided that all geo-political zones have equal states, as agreed within the final constitutional convention.
Christopher Ominimini, the spokesman for PANDEF, emphasised the significance of self-sustainability and equal illustration throughout zones.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, declared that the Southeast must be allotted extra states to handle ‘’the wrongs that had been accomplished to the area on state creation over time.’’
Ohanaeze National Publicity Secretary, Dr Ezechi Chukwu, stated: “It is unlucky that such a invoice can also be geared toward suppressing the Southeast as regular. It is totally unacceptable that Southeast must be appropriated solely 5 states.
“Southeast, all these whereas, is the one zone within the Federal Republic of Nigeria that has the least variety of states no matter our inhabitants and our contributions each economically and infrastructural improvement of the nation.
“So, giving Southeast such a small number of five states in this bill when others that already have advantages orchestrated by successive governments before now is quite unacceptable and unfortunately, it is above all antithetical to the commonwealth of the South Easterners and the so-called equity we are preaching in the country.”
He added: “Southeast deserves extra states greater than every other zone within the nation as a result of Southeast is the one zone that has been short-changed over time by successive governments. So, if justice and fairness ought to prevail Southeast have to be given the very best variety of states.
“So, if the Federal Government fails to correct the wrongs that had been done to the Southeast over the years, this is the time to at least give this equation some terms of balance by appropriating more number states to the Southeast to make up with the other geopolitical zones.”
By and enormous, the craze of anger trailing the proposal could be a tip of the iceberg. By the time the proponents introduce the invoice to the House, the following debate will certainly ignite extra reactions. And until the lawmakers retrace their steps and take heed to the phrases of knowledge, this can be one other missed alternative to reshape the nation’s structure.