The Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review has approved the creation of an additional state in the South-East geo-political zone.
A statement by the committee’s media unit, said the resolution was reached on Saturday at a two-day retreat in Lagos, where lawmakers reviewed 55 separate proposals for state creation across the country.
The session was chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, and co-chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu.
Kalu backed the move, arguing that a new state would give the South-East a sense of belonging and bring it on par with other regions.
“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 statement said.
Currently, the South-East remains the only zone with five states, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, while the North-West has seven states: Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Jigawa.
At the retreat, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) moved the motion for the creation of the new state, which was seconded by Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/Ewekoro, Ogun State).
“The motion received the unanimous support of committee members and was adopted,” the statement added.
The committee also resolved to set up a sub-committee to consider requests for additional states and local government areas across all six zones.
It revealed that a total of 278 proposals were submitted for review.
Deputy Senate President Jibrin urged lawmakers to mobilise support across both chambers and state assemblies ahead of the final stage of voting.
“We need to strengthen what we have started so that all parts of the country will key into this process.
“By the time we get to the actual voting, we should already have the buy-in of all stakeholders, from both chambers and the state Houses of Assembly,” Jibrin said.
