The National Assembly on Tuesday said it could not guarantee the creation of new states in the ongoing process for the amendment of the constitution.
The position of the National Assembly was made known by the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadum in Abuja.
This is especially so for the South East that has been agitating to be brought to par with most other geopolitical zones with six states each.
Ekweremadu said: “I don’t think that the South East will expect either myself or any person to announce that they are going to get a state tomorrow or next tomorrow because that is not what the constitution says.
“They will naturally follow the provisions, which the constitution has provided.
“I hope this has afforded me the opportunity to clear the air.”
Ekweremadu said over 52 memoranda for state creation were submitted for consideration.
He added: “On the issue of state creation, I was in Enugu on Sunday where I met with my own constituents regarding the constitution amendment exercise and I made it clear to them that Nigerians are confusing things and that is why anyone can begin to expect that at the end of this exercise, somebody will come up to announce that states have been created.
“That is not going to happen because the constitution does not make such provisions.
“So, the issue of state creation is completely different from what we are doing because if you look at Section 8 and Section 9, there are two different issues.
“So, any group that wants a state can necessarily pursue the process without the committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives currently dealing with the issue of constitutional amendment.
“It is something that can run its own course without involving the committee.
“What is going on really is that Nigerians are making their request for the creation of states based on the fact that they believe that these two committees can come up with criteria that will favour them.
“We are supposed to make laws for the good governance of this country and in doing so, as part of this exercise, what we can naturally do is that we have 56 request for state creation, as responsible citizens of Nigeria, we can advise our colleagues on how many states that can possibly be created and the system can sustain.
“If for instance we say, well, in the circumstance, Nigerian system can contain may be four states, three or eight states, we can possibly advice on how these states would be allocated to the various parts of the country.
“Then, naturally, the people who are requesting for state will still go and generate their requests and submit to the National Assembly and then generate resolutions of the requisite authorities, the council, the House of Assembly and it will still come up to the National Assembly, the Senate and the House will vote, then it will still go for referendum after which it will go to the House of Assembly of all the states in Nigeria.
“So, even if you are requesting for a State in Sokoto, the House of Assembly in Abia State will also vote for it.
“It is something you don’t expect that at the end of the constitution amendment exercise….”
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