The National Assembly has begun deliberations on the creation of 55 new states and 278 additional Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the country.
This was disclosed on Friday by Ismail Mudashir, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who also doubles as chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day joint retreat of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in Lagos, he said, “It has been a long journey to bring the Senate and the House of Representatives’ Constitution Amendment proposals that cut across several sections and deal with different subject matters.
“We have been in this process for the past two years, engaging our constituents, critical stakeholders, institutions, civil society organizations, and interest groups in town hall meetings, interactive sessions, and public hearings, harvesting and synthesizing views and perspectives, which has ultimately culminated to what we have here today—69 bills, 55 state creation requests, two boundary adjustments, and 278 local government creation requests.
“It is not going to be a simple task to achieve within two days, but I believe we can do it, especially as we have promised Nigerians that we will deliver the first set of amendments to the State Houses of Assembly before the end of this year.”
