THE national conference, on Thursday, approved the
creation of 18 additional states across the country,
as a way of meeting the yearning and aspirations of
the people. The conference also resolved that the office of the
President of Nigeria shall now rotate between the
North and South and revolve among the six
geopolitical zones of the country. Delegates also agreed that the office of the state
governors shall be rotated among the three
senatorial districts of each state, while that of the
local government chairmen shall be rotated within
the local government areas. The resolutions were arrived at during the plenary,
while considering reports of the committee on
political restructuring and forms of government. The delegates also said the six geopolitical zones
should be enshrined in the constitution of the
country. They rejected the proposal that the president
should run for a single term of six years and
favoured the present arrangement of two terms of
four years. 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 the members of the National
Assembly after he must have won. The conference also supported the unicameral
form of government. This implies that there would
still be the Senate and the House of
Representatives. Though it was also agreed that the states were free
to have their constitutions, but the request to
change the name of Adamawa State to Gongola
State was overwhelmingly rejected by the
delegates. The committee was mandated to primarily examine
the extant structure and forms of governments in
the context of the peculiar circumstances of
Nigeria’s diverse and multi-ethnic setting. It was also expected to examine Nigeria’s attendant
challenges and the need to lay a solid foundation
for an all-inclusive and cost-effective system of
government which would serve the best interest of
Nigeria and Nigerians. Where the president dies in office, incapacitated,
impeached or where he resigns, the conference
agreed that the vice president shall operate in
acting capacity for a period of 90 days, during which
an election to the same office would be conducted. The decision was taken to help each zone run the
full course of the constitutionally allowed tenure
without undue disruption, while the delegates also
said when a president leaves under any of the
circumstances stated earlier, another president
would be elected from the same zone where the previous one came from. The delegates also voted in favour of modified
presidential form of government as recommended
by the committee, which they described as home-
made model of government that combines the
attributes of parliamentary and presidential
systems. The president elected under the new system shall
exercise full responsibility for his government and
shall select ministers, not more than 18, from the
six geopolitical zones of the country. On the creation of new states, delegates also
unanimously agreed with the recommendation for
the creation of an additional state for the South-
East zone, to put it at par with other zones of the
country, this is aside the 18 more states proposed. The proposed states are Aba, from the present Abia
State, Katagum from Bauchi State, Ijebu from Ogun
State, Amana from former Sardauna Province, Apa
from Benue State, Anioma State from Delta State
and Savannah from Borno. Others are Etiti from South-East, Njaba/Anim from
Anambra and Imo states, Gurara from Kaduna,
Ghari from Kano State, Adada, New Oyo from Oyo
State, Orachi from Rivers State, Ogoja from Cross
River State and Kanji from Kebbi and Niger states. It was agreed that the two states from both the
South-South and South-West would be determined
later. They rejected a motion that the number of states
in Nigeria should not be more than 55. However, a delegate to the conference, Mr Femi
Falana, 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. On states that wanted to merge, the conference
said a referendum should be conducted in each of
the states 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, must so approve. In another development, former Attorney-General
of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Senator
Kanu Agabi, has revealed that corruption in Nigeria
first reared its ugly head with the state creation
exercise of 1966, which he said led to acute
shortage of manpower in the country. The development, he reasoned, culminated in the
subsequent appointment of unqualified people into
serious positions of authority in the various states
created. Senator Agabi stated this while delivering a lecture,
with the theme: “The Challenge of Combating
Corruption in Nigeria,” organised by the Law
Students Association (LAWSA) of the National Open
University of Nigeria (NOUN), in honour of the late
Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, at the Public Service Institute, Kubwa
Expressway, Abuja. The former AGF and Minister of Justice stressed
that the problem of acute shortage of manpower
that came with the creation of states in 1966 was
further compounded by the civil war which ravaged
the nation between 1966 and 1970 and thus sent
the remaining few qualified expatriate packing.

Source http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/9785-confab-approves-18-more-states-adopts-rotational-presidency-governorship

Upon sighting Aba as one of them potential states, i suddenly developed this butterfly in my belly

We don't need more but let maintain d one's we have already.

alwaysbehappy: We don't need more but let maintain d one's we have already.

we need to maintain a political and geographic balance.

I need Aba a single state