By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution of the Senate and House of Representatives has endorsed the creation of six new states across the country.
This was among the major decisions reached at the end of a two-day retreat held in Lagos, co-chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
During the retreat, the committee reviewed a total of 69 bills, 55 proposals for new states, two for boundary adjustments, and 278 requests for the creation of local governments.
After examining the 55 state creation proposals on Saturday, the committee reached a unanimous agreement to approve six new states — one from each of the six geopolitical zones: North West, North East, North Central, South West, South South, and South East.
If eventually passed, the number of states in Nigeria will rise from 36 to 42.
With this decision, the South South and South West zones will each have seven states, the South East six, the North West eight, the North East seven, and the North Central seven.
The resolution will be included in the joint committee’s report to be submitted to both chambers of the National Assembly in the first week of November.
A senior lawmaker disclosed that the resolution received unanimous backing from members of both chambers in the interest of fairness and balance.
The lawmakers also agreed to form a subcommittee tasked with identifying the specific areas from which the six new states will be created. The Senate Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, will head this subcommittee.
A member of the subcommittee representing the North West stated that the panel would carefully assess all 55 requests submitted to the National Assembly before arriving at the final six proposals for state creation.
“We will meticulously review the 55 requests for state creation to come up with the areas where the six new states will be carved from. We will be fair and just to all the promoters of state creation,” he said.
Efforts to reach Innocent Mebiri, Clerk of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, were unsuccessful as his mobile line was unreachable at the time of filing this report.
Earlier, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who chairs the Constitution Review Committee, reaffirmed the National Assembly’s determination to deliver timely and people-oriented amendments to the 1999 Constitution.
Setting the tone for the Lagos retreat, he urged lawmakers to remain committed to ensuring that the first set of constitutional amendment bills is transmitted to the State Houses of Assembly before the end of the year.
The retreat was convened to enable members of the joint committee to review all proposed amendments on a “clause-by-clause” basis.
“It has been a long journey to bring the Senate and the House of Representatives Constitution Amendment proposals that cut across several sections and dealing 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 creations requests, two boundary adjustment and 278 Local Government creation requests,” Senator Barau was quoted in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir.
As Chair of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Barau noted that the joint committee was expected to deliberate on all issues raised and make recommendations to both chambers of the National Assembly.