By Felix Durumbah
Agitators for creation of additional states in Nigeria have more home work to do.
This is because their proposals for 30 new states have not met the required constitutional provisions.
These much were disclosed by Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Ben Kalu, on Friday, February 7, in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
In a statement issued by his media office, the Deputy Speaker said the 30 proposals fell far short of Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),which deals with State and Local Government (LG) creation, boundary adjustment and similar matters.
Contrary to media reports (not in PeopleandPolitics.net), the Deputy Speaker stressed that the House of Representatives, and indeed the National Assembly, has not taken a position on creation of states.
Outlining the constitutional steps towards creating a new state, in case agitators were not aware of such, Hon. Kalu stated that the Constitution requires two-thirds majority vote in the Senate, the House of Representatives, State Houses of Assembly, and LG Legislative Houses.
Section 8 says: “(1) An Act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new State shall only be passed if-
“(a) a request, supported by at least two-thirds majority of members (representing the area demanding the creation of the new State) in each of the following, namely –
“(i) the Senate and the House of Representatives,
“(ii) the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and
“(iii) the local government councils in respect of the area,
‘is received by the National Assembly;
“(b) a proposal for the creation of the State is thereafter approved in a referendum by at least two-thirds majority of the people of the area where the demand for creation of the State originated;
“(c) the result of the referendum is then approved by a simple majority of all the States of the Federation supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses of Assembly; and
“(d) the proposal is approved by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of members of each House of the National Assembly.”
According to him, the National Assembly would follow the procedure strictly.
Therefore, the federal legislature,he added, is inviting state creation applicants to re-submit their proposals once they have adhered strictly to all constitutional guidelines.
“We are the people’s Parliament. We are not taking any position on the issue of creation of states. We have heard a lot of people giving different narratives to the letter that was read.
“Let me clear the dust. During the Ninth Assembly, we received more requests for state creation and some of them came through private member bills. Some came from the memoranda we called for and in this Tenth Assembly, we have received 30, not 31.
“I think, on that list, they repeated Ibadan State twice. It is 30 that we have received.
“As we speak, none of these 30 proposals have met the requirements of Section 8 and that was why we decided to bring it to the notice of Nigerians that your application before us is ineffective.
“Therefore, you need to comply with Section 8 so that when we don’t consider the state creation request, you will know where it emanated from.”
The Deputy Speaker warned the agitators to do all the needful on or before March 5,2025, if they want to see their state dreams realized.
He said: “So, the notice to the public is that you have between now and March 5 to enable you cure the gaps in your application for state creation.”
