N’ Assembly To Consider 55 Requests For New States, 278 LGs

The National Assembly will be considering requests for the creation of 55 additional states and 278 local government areas in the ongoing constitution review exercise.

The disclosure was made on Friday by the chairman of the Joint National Assembly Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Barau Jibrin.

The Senate and House of Representatives members of the joint review committee are currently at a two-day retreat in Lagos to fine-tune the various memoranda received from various groups and individuals.

For the National Assembly to create additional states and local governments, it must obtain a two-thirds majority in at least 24 state assemblies out of the existing 36 states of the federation.

“It has been a long journey to bring the Senate and the House of Representatives’ Constitution Amendment proposals that cut across several sections and deal with different subject matters.

“We have been in this process for the past two years, engaging our constituents, critical stakeholders, institutions, civil society organisations and interest groups in town hall meetings, interactive sessions and public hearings.

“We have been harvesting and synthesising views and perspectives. This has ultimately culminated in what we have here today – 69 bills; 55 state creation requests, 278 local government creation requests, and two requests for boundary adjustment,” Jibrin was quoted to have said.

Jibrin, who is the incumbent Deputy President of the Senate, said the joint committee would resolve issues around the requests and make recommendations to the two chambers of the National Assembly in the coming weeks.

“It is not going to be a simple task to achieve within two days, but I believe we can do it, especially as we have promised Nigerians that we will deliver the first set of amendments to the State Houses of Assembly before the end of this year.

“I believe we can deliver on this promise if we engage the bills and the issues with open minds. I acknowledge we represent constituents with diverse ethnic, religious and socio-economic cleavages through different political platforms.

“But the constitution is the grundnorm and nationhood for Nigerian citizens, which we must approach with patriotism and nationalism as higher shared goals,” he added.

The joint review committee chair urged lawmakers to focus on what best serves the citizens of Nigeria and avoid unhealthy competitive debates.

“We are seated here as one committee. There should be no ‘we’ and ‘them’. We should be guided by the interests of Nigerians. I wish all of us a very fruitful deliberation and hope for recommendations that will meet the approval threshold of the provisions of Section 9 of the Constitution,” he added.

He emphasised the commitment of the National Assembly towards delivering people-centred and timely amendments to the 1999 Constitution.

Jibrin appealed to the lawmakers to work towards attaining the promise made to transmit the first set of amendments to the state assemblies before the end of the year.