A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has called for a return to regional government instead of creating new states.
He argued that new states would increase governance costs by adding more offices, which is problematic given the current economic challenges facing the nation.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Lagos State, Agbakoba commented on a bill proposing the creation of Etiti State in the South-East, which recently passed its second reading in the House of Representatives.
The House is preparing for a public hearing before the bill’s final reading and Senate concurrence.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Delta State, Prof. Leroy Edozien, has urged President Bola Tinubu to address marginalization in the South-East by creating an additional state.
However, Agbakoba contends that Nigeria does not need more states at this time.
Agbakoba suggested that lawmakers and political stakeholders focus on restructuring Nigeria into a regional government to better reflect the country’s diversity.
He opposed the creation of new states, citing the economic unviability and insolvency of many of the existing 36 states, which struggle to foster infrastructural development and pay proposed minimum wages.
He explained, “State creation at this present harsh economic will, no doubt, lead to an increase in the number of National Assembly members, ministers, local governments, and others, which would further increase the cost of governance in the country. This is coming at a time when most Nigerians are starving due to a rise in food prices. Insurgents, bandits, and terrorists are abducting people for ransom in other states of the country.”
Agbakoba suggested that the National Assembly should return the country to regionalism by merging the 36 states into six to eight regions or geopolitical zones, each led by a regional leader.
He noted, “This means that the present Nigeria 1999 Constitution would be amended or a new one written to accommodate this proposal. This is because making a new constitution for Nigeria has become an overriding imperative based on the fact that new political realities and conundrums have cropped up in the country.”
As a human rights activist, Agbakoba believes the socio-economic and political issues can only be resolved by amending the 1999 constitution to allow for a regional system of government.
He recalled the successful regional governments led by Obafemi Awolowo in the South West, Michael Okpara in the South East, and Ahmadu Bello in the North.
Since the abandonment of regionalism, Agbakoba argued, the states have been largely unviable, except for Lagos and Rivers.
He acknowledged the impulse to create a sixth state in the South-East for balance but emphasized that regionalism would better serve the greater good of Nigeria.
He noted, “This agitation will arise because it is on the basis of the number of states that federal allocation flows. So the fact that the South-East has five states means to them that they are losing revenue and that is one point of view and also an emotional point of their agitation. However, a pragmatic developmental point of view, which I go for, is that even if you create a sixth state in the South-East to give them a sense of belonging, will this new state in addition to the 36 states take us towards the path of development? Will it reverse the hunger, insecurity, poverty, and unemployment in the land? Absolutely not. We need to do away from state creation to the regional system of government,” he concluded.
