Senator Ike Ekweremadu, lawyer, academician is unarguably one of the most enduring political stalwarts of the Fourth Republic. His political progression has seen him pack experience from the executive and legislative branches of government having been local government chairman, 1998, Chief of Staff to Governor Chimaroke Nnamani 1999; and subsequently Secretary to the Enugu State Government. In 2003 he was elected to the Senate and rose to become Deputy Senate President in 2007. He was re-elected to that position unopposed early this month setting him on course to eclipse the durability of his immediate predecessor in that, office, Senator Ibrahim Mantu. In an interview penultimate Friday, Senator Ekweremadu spoke sat down to a brief on the challenges of the past Senate and the issues before the Seventh Senate.

Excerpts:

Is states creation in your agenda?

We have made this promise and we intend to tackle it. We know it is going to be a very controversial issue but we are not going to run away from it. We have made our recommendations to the Senate as a committee and we have said that Nigerians are asking for creation of additional states and we recommended strongly that the National Assembly do follow the process and ensure that more states are created.

But many Nigerians are worried that most of the states are not viable? So why do you want to create more states?

There is no time anywhere, any day when you can say that every state will be as prosperous or have the same prospects. In America you have big states you have small states, you have poor states you have rich states and all fingers will never be equal, so states will never be equal.

The important thing is for those who will lead those states to create the enabling environment for those states to thrive and prosper. We have seen places like Japan which have prospered. In 1970 South Korea was more backward than Nigeria, but today it is one of the leading countries in the world. The UAE where Dubai is in 1990 it was more like a village, in one street they had only two houses, it was more like a desert! Today, Dubai is one of the best cities in the world. So, the issue of prosperity is a function of vision of leadership and leaders. You cannot say that because a particular state is poor today that it will remain poor. Once you have visionary leaders in charge of that state it can transform that state.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/my-nocturnal-bonds-with-david-mark-ekweremadu/

Give us Anioma state! 

And maybe they can carve out the Ijaw areas of Rivers state and give it to Bayelsa state.

Anioma state till death!

When the one already in existence can't pay a 18k minimum wage? Creation of more governors, watering down leadership along the way.

When there are so many moribund states already on ground !

~Bluetooth:

When there are so many moribund states already on ground !

You dey mind them. Ekiti, Adamawa, Yobe, Zamfara, Bayelsa etc shouldn't be states and be returned to their original owners imho.

Anioma state is needed. Other states should be merged. Especially in the North and South-West.

only 6 states should be created
Anioma created from the present Delta State and merged with the SE zone
and then one additional state each for SE, SW, SS, NC and NE zones, to bring them at par with NW zone.

After which it should be a death penalty  to even talk about state creation, let alone create any.

I understand that ethnic minorities want their own state. But in cases where you have neighboring states with the same ethnicity, might not be a bad idea to merge them to cut down on administrative costs.

Probably the entire SE zone could be merged into one state, for example.

ekt_bear:

I understand that ethnic minorities want their own state. But in cases where you have neighboring states with the same ethnicity, might not be a bad idea to merge them to cut down on administrative costs.

Probably the entire SE zone could be merged into one state, for example.

All of our states are viable and are performing financially.

Even the least among our states, Ebonyi is doing alright.

The same cannot be said of your own state of Ekiti and many states in the North.

ekt_bear:

I understand that ethnic minorities want their own state. But in cases where you have neighboring states with the same ethnicity, might not be a bad idea to merge them to cut down on administrative costs.

Probably the entire SE zone could be merged into one state, for example.

Its like you love trouble!

ZnO:

only 6 states should be created
Anioma created from the present Delta State and merged with the SE zone
and then one additional state each for SE, SW, SS, NC and NE zones, to bring them at par with NW zone.

After which it should be a death penalty  to even talk about state creation, let alone create any.

This is the BEST COMMENT here so far.
But ZnO, you are only looking at it from a political point of view, what about financial pov, etc??

FG should withdraw allocation for 5 years, let's see what states blinks first. Those who do first will be merged with those who do not blink or blink last. AN IGBO (and thus, an Igbo state) man will always find a way. B4 you know it, even Ekiti will be merged with Abia, incontiguous as they are.

EzeUche!:

All of our states are viable and are performing financially.

That isn't really the point. I guess my question is, what is the point of state creation? Right now, unfortunately states are mostly created for silly reasons (related to FG allocations, representation in senate/house, etc.) Best reason for additional states imo is to give minority groups control over their own affairs.

Even the least among our states, Ebonyi is doing alright. The same cannot be said of your own state of Ekiti and many states in the North.

Do you have any data to back this up? Last I checked on the CBN website, Ekiti has quite a bit higher IGR than Ebonyi, for example.

aloy/emeka:

You dey mind them. Ekiti, Adamawa, Yobe, Zamfara, Bayelsa etc shouldn't be states and be returned to their original owners imho.

Honestly,Ebonyi should either merge or be scrapped.A friend of mine serving there complains that the state is just blessed with salt even common water na gold.Bayelsa with just six local governments is highly under-develop despite collecting the highest allocation.

How did this thread turn into another Igbo vs Yoruba war?

jason123:

Its like you love trouble!

I wouldn't do that to the SE zone alone. Roughly speaking, modulo some changes here and there, this is what the state map of Nigeria should look like:



But for stupid reasons, this isn't what we have right now.

The current IGR data (if any that can be trusted) cannot be used to judge states because most states intentionally (or out of the feeling that there is no need), do not care about generating internal revenue. But when they are faced with reality, like been starved of fed funds, even Ebonyi will be the cynosure of the eyes of some states.

If you say so. You are entitled to your own opinion at least, I'll give you that.

Anyways, moving on. . . . state creation for ethnic minorities is good. But if we decoupled certain political reasons from state creation, would there be as much interest? Likely no.

Dapo, if I get what you are say, then, you are in for world war 3. Everyone is not as "united" as you think. For example, will an Ekiti man allow an Oyo man to rule him?? What about an Nnewi man and Ngwa or Ikwerri I think its best we follow ZnO's advise so far unless you have a superior argument to his.

Dat is a 1960s post biafra war map and is distorted. Ibo territory is definately more than dat for real. U know as Igbo's retreated from the Nigerian Army the biafra map shrank and some choose to retain a shrinked map for real.

ekt_bear:

I wouldn't do that to the SE zone alone. Roughly speaking, modulo some changes here and there, this is what the state map of Nigeria should look like:



But for silly reasons, this isn't what we have right now.

ekt_bear:

I wouldn't do that to the SE zone alone. Roughly speaking, modulo some changes here and there, this is what the state map of Nigeria should look like:



But for silly reasons, this isn't what we have right now.

Did you put the whole Kwara under SW?

^^^^^^^
So what is "the true extent of Alaigbo"??

Bliss4Lyfe:


Dat is a 1960s post biafra war map and is distorted. Ibo territory is definately more than dat for real.

~Bluetooth:

Honestly,Ebonyi should either merge or be scrapped.A friend of mine serving there complains that the state is just blessed with salt even common water na gold.Bayelsa with just six local governments is highly under-develop despite collecting the highest allocation.

Ebonyi is a breadbasket that is blessed with fertile land. Why do you think we in the East get our rice from that state? I guess you do not know much about the East to make such statements.

aloy/emeka:

Did you put the whole Kwara under SW?

Under where should it be

jason123:

^^^^^^^
So what is "the true extent of Alaigbo"??

Now we all know we have discussed that topic. And final conclusion is that Igboland is quite large. And Port Harcourt is FIRMLY Igbo.

Bliss4Lyfe:


Dat is a 1960s post biafra war map and is distorted. Ibo territory is definately more than dat for real.

If supremacy is strictly  based on land mass, then the Japanese wouldn't have tried colonizing China. Africans dey tire me sometimes.

EzeUche!:

Now we all know we have discussed that topic. And final conclusion is that Igboland is quite large. And Port Harcourt is FIRMLY Igbo.

Guy, its like saying Warri is under Yoruba or Benin 

jason123:

Dapo, if I get what you are say, then, you are in for world war 3. Everyone is not as "united" as you think. For example, will an Ekiti man allow an Oyo man to rule him?? What about an Nnewi man and Ngwa or Ikwerri I think its best we follow ZnO's advise so far unless you have a superior argument to his.

I definitely understand the concerns/fears. Remember, Ekiti State indigenes pushed for their own state for exactly the reasons you state. But the overall point I'm trying to make is that the less states in Nigeria, the better. You are right though, for political reasons this might not be feasible. But let's not exacerbate the problem, if we can at all avoid it.

Looking at this map Ijaw is basically Rivers State and Awka Ibom and Abia sef. I dey laugh ooooooo!

Ebonyi is the highest producer of rice in Nigeria
Yams, salt, precious stones and lots more
But they like other states, simply refuse to harness all the opportunities due to free fed allocation
Starve Ebonyi of fund and see what miracles can be wrought.

Bliss4Lyfe:

Looking at this map Ijaw is basically Rivers State and Awka Ibom. I dey laugh ooooooo!

But it is a LINGUISTIC MAP not a Territorial map