Owei Lakemfa
7 January 2009
opinion
Lagos — LET me join the teaming millions of Nigerians in thanking our Excellencies across the country, eminently distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic and the most Honourable Members in the Legislature for their untiring efforts to create new states in the country.
They ought to know that the primary challenge we face today is neither the economy nor poverty. It is to break the jinx of state creation which civilian administrations have been unable to create since military rule began in 1966.
Although there are seven thematic areas for review of our Constitution, state creation is the most attractive. It is the glue that can hold the entire amendment process together. Even if Nigerians are not consulted on the review, once new states are created, all amendments will be accepted!
I have read about caucuses of the North and South in the Senate meeting to agree on new states; that is how it should be. At the last count, there were demands for over 50 new states. This, obviously, is too high a figure, so I commend the wisdom of our leaders who are reported to have reached a consensus to create a dozen new states.
This will be quite neat; given the imaginary six geo-political areas of the country, each can be awarded two new states. The problem will be with the East, or, is it the South East?
That part of the country, as Senator Joy Emordi has demonstrated, is marginalised in the present 36 states structure. While it has only five states, the other sub-regions have six each, except the North West which has seven.
As she argued over the Christmas break, since Nigerians have agreed to live together, equity and justice dictate equality of states for the six geo-political areas. So, we should think of giving the East more states than other areas in the current exercise.
Perhaps, in anticipation of this, the current states in the East are demanding for, at least, a new state each.
Abia wants Aba State, Imo State needs Njaba State, Anambra desires a new Urashi State created from its ribs while Enugu is campaigning for Adada State.
There are some who may argue that, given the global economic crises, creating new states will not be wise. These are pessimists; they do not believe that the global crisis is ending this year and that oil prices will rise from the decks below $40 per barrel to the heights of $200 per barrel.
In any case, our foreign reserves can be used for the new states' take-off. Even with 12 new states and Abuja, our centre of unity being converted to a full-fledged state, we will still have fewer states compared to our model, the United States.
Nigerians need to congratulate themselves for overcoming the state creation phobia.
In the years leading to independence, all three regions and the leading nationalists were vehemently opposed to creating new states in their regions.
The ruling Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), in its 1952 proclamation against creating new states in the region, declared the North "indivisible". It floated a slogan "One North, One People, irrespective of religion, rank or tribe"
The NCNC Freedom Charter of 1948 said if states were to be created, it should be on "national and linguistic basis" which means that the Igbos should not be affected by state creation. The Great Zik of Africa described moves to create any state out of the Eastern Region as "dismemberment". This made sense because, if the sun rises in the East, why fragment the region?
The more philosophical and clairvoyant Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not only want the West undivided, but asked that Lagos, which was designated "Federal", and Ilorin and Kabba provinces in the Northern Region be added to the Western Region.
He warned in 1957 that unless this was done, the Constitutional Conference and unity of Nigeria will be at stake.
Awo argued that state creation must be based on three criteria. First, majority of the people in the new state must desire it. Secondly, the new state must have sufficient resources to support its existence.
Thirdly, there must be no fragmentation of existing ethnic units. In other words, no new states should be created in Yoruba land.
So, by the time General Yakubu Gowon and his boys in 1967 adopted state creation as a weapon fashioned against Biafra, only one state, Mid West, had been created. Later, state creation became a political carrot; a big bribe offered by military dictators.
Today, the Northern region has metamorphosed into 19 states, and the three other regions, into 17 states.
So why did the attitude of Nigerians change so dramatically? The explanation is in the fact that in the First Republic, each region had to cater for itself; rely primarily on its own resources. So creating a new state was an additional burden.
Later, with free oil money, no region or state was required to cater for itself; all states draw monthly from free petro- dollars and all live like the mythical Abdul who wanted to be rich and comfortable without lifting a finger.
The Military, and later, the Constitution made revenue allocation primarily based on "equality of states". So, the more states you can muscle in your area, the greater your share of the national cake.
But a word of caution: The Niger Delta "militants" can kidnap the "national cake". So it is wiser to award them two or four new states. Perhaps, the troublesome Ijaws can get Toru Ebe and Arogbo States, while the increasingly articulate Tseks can be offered an Itsekiri State.
With this, the party can continue.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
I hope this state creation will be a dream come true.