A bill seeking the creation of additional three states in the South-West has been listed for presentation in the House of Representatives.
The bill, being sponsored by Hon Busayo Oluwole Oke, representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Osun State, ( Osun-PDP) is seeking the creation of Oke-Ogun, Ijebu and Ife-Ijesa States respectively.
The proposed legislation is titled “A Bill for an Act to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.
The Bill is seeking for an amendment to the First Schedule, Part I of the Constitution to read, “The First Schedule, Part I of the Constitution is amended by introducing new states and reducing the number of local government areas.”
According to Oke, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Ife Ijesa State is to be made of 11 LGAs including Atakunmosa East, Atakunmosa West, Boluwaduro, Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North, Ife South, Ilesa East, Ilesa West, Oboku and Oriade.
In a letter dated February 6, 2024, and addressed to the Clerk of the House, Oke wrote: “I wish to forward the above mentioned bill to your office for further necessary legislative action to enable me to move same in our great Green Chamber, sir.”
The South-West geopolitical zone is currently made up of six federating states, which are Ondo, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states.
If Oke’s bill scales legislative hurdles, the region would surpass the North-West, which currently has seven states, the highest among the other zones: North-Central, North-East, South-West, South-South and South-East.
Meanwhile, section 9 (1) of the Constitution states that the National Assembly National Assembly can only pass an Act to amend the Constitution when its proposal is supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each chamber (72 senators and 240 House of Representatives members) and approved by the resolution of at least two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly (24 states).
Credit: Tribune
