Anioma, Etiti: Nigeria considers ending inequality in Resource Allocation to S/East

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BY BONNY AMADI

Nigeria’s government is considering ending resource distribution inequality meted out to the South Eastern region of the country through states allocation and representation at the national assembly, a trend which has spanned over decades.

A recent report showed that the Nigerian national assembly, which is planning to also increase the number of states in other regions that for decades have ranked higher than south Eastern zones, now want to create an additional one new state in the region. The state to be created, it has been revealed, will be either Anioma or Etiti state.

This was even as the Nigerian national assembly commenced deliberations on far-reaching constitutional amendments that could see the creation of 55 new states and 278 additional local government areas across the country.

If the South-East zone of the country benefits only one new state out of the 55 new states being considered, it would also translate to continued marginalization, as the other zones will still have more states, still ranking higher than the south-East-zone of the country.

Nigeria’s 36 states are also grouped into six geopolitical zones that reflect ethnic identity in most cases, however, the marginalisation of the South-East region in resources allocation is evident in the allocation of resources to the states in the regions, as well as representations or voices at the national assembly, (the senate and the House of Representatives).

For instance, while the South-East is the only geo-political zone in Nigeria with five states comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The North-West comprises seven states: Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Jigawa.

Also, the North Central zone has seven states, consisting of Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

While other four zones have six states per zone, South-South (also known as Niger Delta region), consists of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers States. South West, consists of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States.

North East, consists of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe States, while North West, consists of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara States.

Disclosing the readiness of the country’s national assembly to create new state in the south-east region, a member of the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review, has authoritatively revealed that approval has been secured for the creation of an additional state in the South-East geo-political zone.

A statement by the media unit of the committee, the resolution was reached on Saturday at a two-day retreat in Lagos, where it reviewed 55 proposals for state creation across the country.

The session, chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, and co-chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, resolved that, in the spirit of fairness and equity, the Federal Government should create another state for the region.

Kalu, who joined other lawmakers to champion additional state creation for the region, argued that a new state would give the people a sense of belonging.

When created, the South-East will be at par with the South-South, South-West, North-Central, and North-East zones, each having six states.

The South-East is the only geo-political zone with five states comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.