The National Conference on Thursday voted for the
creation of 18 more states in the country. The creation of new states was one of the decisions
taken by the delegates at their plenary while considering the report of the
Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government. Apart from the 18 new states proposed, the conference
said a separate state-yet-to-be named should be carved out of the South-East to
bring the number of the states in the zone to six.
In creating a new state from the South-East
geopolitical zone, the conference said the creation would correct the imbalance
of the zone having the least number of states. In the existing 36 states arrangement, each zone has
six states with only the North-West having seven states. The new states proposed by the conference are: Aba, to
be carved out of the present Abia State; Katagum, from Bauchi State; Ijebu,
from Ogun State; Amana, from former Sardauna Province; Apa, from Benue State;
Anioma, from Delta State, Savannah, from Borno State; and Etiti, from
South-East.
Others are Njaba/Anim, from Anambra and Imo states;
Gurara, from Kaduna State; Ghari, from Kano State; Adada, New Oyo from Oyo
State; Orachi, from Rivers State; Ogoja, from Cross River State; and Kainji,
from Kebbi and Niger states.
Two other states, one each from the South-East and
South-West zones, are also yet to be named.
It was agreed by the delegates that the 18 new states
would be shared among the six zones in a manner that no zone would have more
states than the other.
Though it was also agreed that states were free to
have their constitutions, the request to change the name of Adamawa State to
Gongola State was overwhelmingly rejected by the delegates.
The delegates also voted that the Presidency should
rotate among the six geopolitical zones of the country.
They said the rotation should be between the northern
and southern regions.
It was also agreed by the delegates that in the case
of death, impeachment or incapacitation of the President, the deputy would no
longer assume office automatically.
Rather, they said that the Vice President should only
act as President for a period of 90 days within which another election should
hold.
“In the absence of the death of the President, the
Vice President shall act as President for a period of 90 days within which an
election to the office of the President shall be held,” the conference said.
The delegates argued that since the office of the
President would be rotated among the six geopolitical zones, it would be unfair
to allow the Vice President to take the turn of another zone by automatically
assuming power.
President Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner from Bayelsa
State, had assumed the Presidency in 2010 following the death of former
President Umaru Yar’Adua, a northerner from Katsina State.
The delegates rejected the proposal that the President
should be in office for a single term of six years, and favoured the present
arrangement of two terms of four years each.
It was also agreed that the President and his deputy
should run on a joint ticket, thereby rejecting the recommendation that the
President should pick his deputy among members of the National Assembly after
he must have won.
The conference also supported the bicameral
legislature. This implies that there would still be the Senate and the House of
Representatives.
It was also agreed that the office of the governor
should rotate among the three senatorial districts in the state while the
office of the chairman of a local government council should rotate among the
components in the local government areas.
The conference also recommended that that the Independent
National Electoral Commission should divide each council to two or three equal
parts as the case maybe for the purpose of electing the local government
chairman.
The delegates rejected a motion that the number of
states in Nigeria should not be more than 55.
However, a delegate, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, condemned
the decision to create more states.
He said the action was at variance with the decisions
and resolutions earlier taken by the conference on the need by government to
cut cost.
“Having regard to the several resolutions of the
National Conference on the need to reduce the cost of governance, I found the
recommendation for the creation of additional 18 states rather contradictory,”
Falana said.
The conference also said that a referendum should be
conducted in each of the states that want to merge with 65 per cent of the
eligible voters in each of those states approving merger and that the National
Assembly, by resolutions passed by a single majority of membership, should
approve such merger.
On the running of local governments, the delegates
said that states were free to create or reduce the number of local governments
within their territory.
It was agreed that all government officials must use
made in Nigeria cars.
The conference also agreed that the old national
anthem, “Nigeria we hail thee…” should be adopted in place of the current one.
Probably to show their preference for the old anthem,
all the delegates rose to sing it to the surprise of the leadership of the
conference.
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