Akpabio opposes creation of new states

by Chris Agabi, Lagos

Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State says creating more states in Nigeria is unnecessary.

Fielding questions from reporters at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at the weekend, Akpabio said while it is necessary for the constitution to be reviewed, he described the agitation for more states as mere ethnic hype rather than economic viability of the states.

 “We need to look at the viability of states, so that we don’t end up creating states on ethnicity or tribal sentiment,” he said.

  “The constitution review even with the current legislature, we must continue to fine tune until we get or have acceptable people’s constitution. You know the history of Nigeria. You know how we got there. It came through various committees and various structures of the military, so we have to actually bring out the peoples constitution and it is not going to be a day business. I always say that democracy outside Nigeria has thrived for over 200 years in some countries but in Nigeria, we are learning and it is a learning process.

 “The current and future reviews will only succeed in fine tuning in ensuring that democracy deepens in the country and there is no doubt that after this, we will still do another one because there would still be a lot of agitations. Not that I don’t support creation but when we are talking about state creation we also need to look at the viability of states, so that we don’t end up creating states on ethnicity or tribal sentiment”.

 “We must look at how we can manage what we have today to have holistic development of all the states of the federation instead of partitioning the country into ethnic or tribal groups, at the end of the day, we can end up with over 300 states”, he said.

DailyTrust