For more than fifty years the South-East geopolitical zone has carried the burden of being the only zone with five states while the South-West, South-South, North-Central, North-East and North-West enjoy six or seven states each.
The Nigerian National Assembly has taken a step of historic proportions by advancing the bill for the creation of Anim State from parts of the existing Anambra and Imo States, and every Nigerian who believes in justice, fairness and the continued unity of this country must rise to applaud this courageous act. For more than fifty years the South-East geopolitical zone has carried the burden of being the only zone with five states while the South-West, South-South, North-Central, North-East and North-West enjoy six or seven states each.
This imbalance is not just a statistical curiosity; it translates into fewer senators, fewer members of the House of Representatives, fewer federal constituencies, fewer votes at the National Economic Council, smaller monthly allocations from the Federation Account, fewer ministerial positions and fewer appointments into federal boards and parastatals.
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It has created a structural disadvantage that no amount of individual brilliance or collective industry by the people of the South-East can fully overcome. The 10th National Assembly, under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, has chosen to confront this injustice head-on. The bill for Anim State, sponsored by distinguished Senator Osita Izunaso representing Imo West Senatorial District, has already scaled second reading in the Senate and is firmly on the path toward concurrence in the House of Representatives and eventual transmission to the President.
This is leadership that posterity will celebrate. The proposed Anim State is to be carved out of local government areas that share deep historical, linguistic, cultural and economic affinities across the present Anambra and Imo boundary. These communities have intermarried for centuries, speak virtually the same central Igbo dialects, and trace their origins to the same ancestral migrations from the Nri-Awka-Orlu axis.
Long before the British drew arbitrary lines in 1914 and long before Gowon created twelve states in 1967, these towns and villages regarded themselves as one indivisible family. Even today, traditional rulers from Ihiala attend meetings of the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers when issues affecting their common heritage arise, and citizens move freely across the invisible state boundary without any sense of crossing into foreign land.
Traditional institutions like the Ozuh Omambala cultural organisation and the Orlu Zurumee movement have consistently advocated for this unity to be given political expression. To therefore create Anim State is not to divide brethren but to grant them the administrative platform they have always deserved to manage their collective destiny. The immediate and most visible benefit of Anim State will be the restoration of parity among Nigeria's six geopolitical zones.
The South-East will finally move from five to six states, matching the South-South, South-West and North-Central, and narrowing the gap with the North-East and North-West. This single act will remove the most potent factual basis for the perennial feeling of marginalization that has sometimes fuelled separatist agitation. When people know that the rules of the game apply equally to everyone, they invest their energy in competition within the system rather than in questioning the legitimacy of the system itself.
Political scientists and psychologists agree that perceived fairness is the strongest glue that holds multi-ethnic nations together. Anim State will supply that fairness in abundant measure. It will send a powerful message to the youths of the South-East that the Nigerian state is capable of self-correction, that grievances can be addressed through constitutional means, and that their future is secure within the federation.
Beyond the psychological healing, the economic advantages are breath-taking. The Oguta Lake and the oil and gas deposits in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta areas represent one of the largest untapped hydrocarbon reservoirs in the South-East. At present, the revenue from these resources is pooled into Imo State coffers and spread across twenty-seven local government areas, many of which are far removed from the sacrifice zones. A new Anim State government will be able to channel a greater proportion of royalties and derivational benefits directly into local infrastructure, environmental remediation and youth empowerment in the very communities that bear the brunt of extraction.
Also, the fertile flood plains of Njaba and Oru are already among the highest rice and cassava producing belts in the entire South-East. With focused state-level agricultural extension services, mechanization hubs and direct linkage to federal anchor borrowers programmes, these areas can become the food basket that President Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda envisions for every part of Nigeria. Palm plantations that were abandoned after the civil war can be revived with modern processing mills, creating thousands of rural jobs and reducing Nigeria's dependence on imported vegetable oil.
Moreover, Orlu, Ihiala and environs are renowned for commerce and industry. A state capital located somewhere around the Ozubulu-Ihiala-Oguta triangle will instantly become a new commercial nerve centre, decongesting Onitsha and Nnewi while creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs in construction, hospitality, education and financial services. Investors who have hesitated to commit large funds to the region because of perceived political risk will see the creation of a sixth state as evidence that the federal government is serious about inclusive development, and capital will flow accordingly.
Both Anambra and Imo States stand to gain immensely from the exercise. Anambra, currently the smallest state by land mass yet one of the most densely populated, will shed some of its most far-flung local governments and be able to concentrate resources on the Nnewi- Awka-Onitsha-Enugu corridor for even faster transformation. The government of Professor Charles Soludo will find it easier to complete signature projects like the Awka city expansion and the Onitsha river port redevelopment when administrative attention is no longer divided across distant communities.
Furthermore, Imo, with twenty-seven local governments, will also benefit from the proposed new state. Losing seven or eight local governments to Anim State will make governance more manageable and allow Governor Hope Uzodinma and his successors to achieve more visible results in the remaining areas. Far from being weakened, both parent states will become stronger, leaner and more effective. Their monthly allocations will reduce marginally, but per-capita delivery of services will increase dramatically.
Anim State presents a golden opportunity to implement President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda in its purest form. Because it will start with a clean slate, the new state can design its capital with twenty-first century standards from day one: solar-powered street lighting, broadband fibre laid alongside every major road, waste-to-energy plants, and mixed-use zoning that prevents the chaotic sprawl that afflicts older cities. The agenda's eight priority areas will find immediate expression. Food security will be pursued through massive investment in the Oru-Njaba rice scheme and the Oguta aquaculture project.
Poverty eradication will be tackled by establishing skills acquisition centres in Orlu, Ihiala and environs where federal agencies such as SMEDAN and NDE will have permanent large-scale presence. Access to capital will be simplified when thousands of traders and farmers deal with a state government whose ministries are ten minutes away rather than in distant Owerri or AWKA. Job creation will explode when the federal government, in keeping with its policy of citing projects in new states, establishes a campus of the Federal Polytechnic, a Nigerian Army barracks, a Federal Medical Centre and an inland container depot within the first four years. The presence of oil and gas will attract modular refineries under the Petroleum Industry Act, providing thousands of direct technical jobs for youths who currently travel to Rivers and Delta States for employment.
The Renewed Hope housing scheme can deliver its first ten thousand units in the new state because land will be more readily available and traditional rulers more willing to cooperate with a government they see as truly their own. The Renewed Hope Agenda's digital economy initiatives will also flourish when a new university of science and technology is established to train the next generation of software engineers and renewable energy experts.
On the political front, the South-East will likely gain three additional senators and at least six additional members in the House of Representatives. The zone will have six governors instead of five attending National Economic Council meetings, six state delegations instead of five at Council of State gatherings, and a stronger claim to sensitive national positions. When the next census is conducted, the new federal constituencies will ensure more accurate enumeration and fairer revenue derivation.
Every index of representation and influence will improve dramatically, and the South-East will finally speak with the weight that its population and contribution to national GDP deserve. The zone will no longer be the easiest to overlook when federal appointments are being shared.
There is every reason to believe that His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will append his signature to this bill the moment it lands on his desk. Mr President has repeatedly demonstrated an uncommon understanding of Nigeria's fault lines and a genuine desire to heal them. His appointments since May 2023 have been remarkably balanced across zones and religions.
His infrastructure projects cut across every region without discrimination. Creating one additional state in the South-East while similar proposals advance in other zones fits perfectly into his philosophy of spreading hope renewed to every nook and cranny of the country. Nigerians of goodwill are confident that President Tinubu will not allow this opportunity to correct a fifty-year anomaly to slip away.
To the distinguished senators and honourable members of the 10th National Assembly, the message must be firm and unambiguous: do not rest until this bill becomes law. The process is rigorous by design. Public hearings have been held and overwhelming support recorded from traditional rulers, youth groups, women organizations and professional bodies across the proposed areas and beyond. Memoranda have been submitted, boundary concerns addressed, and viability studies completed.
The bill has passed second reading in the Senate and is receiving similar attention in the House. State Houses of Assembly in Anambra and Imo have already indicated readiness to give concurrence once the formal request is transmitted. Every constitutional requirement is being met with diligence and transparency. Do not allow vested interests or last-minute manoeuvres to derail this train. Do not postpone the committee report or the conference committee stage under the guise of further consultation.
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The people of Orlu, Oguta, Njaba, Oru East, Oru West, Ohaji/Egbema, Ihiala and environs have waited since 1967 when states were first created. They waited again in 1976 when Murtala Muhammed created nineteen states. They waited in 1987, 1991 and 1996 when additional states were established elsewhere. They have contributed engineers, doctors, professors, soldiers, entrepreneurs and taxpayers to Nigeria's progress without ever asking for special favours, only for equal treatment.
Their patience is legendary, their patriotism unquestionable, their case unassailable. This 10th National Assembly has a rare date with destiny. Pass the Anim State bill and you will be remembered alongside the heroes who created states in 1967, 1976 and 1996. You will be the generation that finally closed the chapter of five states versus six or seven. You will remove the last objective reason for anyone to question the Igbo man's stake in Nigeria. You will strengthen the federation more than a thousand conferences and summits ever could.
History is watching. The prayers of millions ascend daily for your success. The eyes of unborn children wait to read about your courage in their textbooks. Let the bill sail through third reading. Let the House concur without delay. Let the joint constitutional amendment package include Anim State among the new states presented to the President. Let the referendum, when it is eventually conducted, return ninety-nine percent approval because the people have already approved it in their hearts.
Let construction cranes rise over the new state capital before the end of this administration. Let Anim State take its seat at the next meeting of the Nigerian Governors Forum. Let the South-East breathe the fresh air of equality and let Nigeria march forward as a truly united and equitable federation.
The National Assembly has started the journey. Now is the time to finish it. The tools are in your hands. The moral high ground is yours to occupy. The gratitude of a grateful zone and a relieved nation awaits you. Do not relent. Do not look back. Do not compromise. Pass the bill for Anim State and let the Renewed Hope Agenda find its most fertile soil in a land that has never stopped hoping, never stopped contributing and will never stop believing in the promise of one Nigeria where justice and fairness reign supreme. The time is now. The stage is set. The verdict of history hangs in the balance. Make Nigeria proud. Create Anim State.
*Dr Ijeomah Arodiogbu is the National Vice-Chairman (South-East) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
