The proposed five further states for the South-East have been rejected by Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, the youth section of the largest Igbo sociocultural organization.
Nigeria’s House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review reportedly suggested the establishment of 31 new states on Thursday.
Nigeria now has 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, and if the idea is approved, the country will have 67 subnational administrations.
Okun, Okura, and Confluence states from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa states from Benue; FCT state; Amana state from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi; and Savannah states from Borno and Muri State from Taraba are the new states, according to the proposal.
Additional regions include Gujarat and New Kaduna in Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari in Kano; Kainji in Kebbi State; and Etiti, Orashi, Adada, Orlu, and Aba in the Southeast.
Ibadan from Oyo, Lagoon from Lagos, Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun States, Ogoja from Cross River State, Warri from Delta, Ori and Obolo from Rivers, and Torumbe from Ondo are also featured.The full list of Nigerian lawmakers who have proposed the creation of 31 new states is available at https://dailypost.ng/2025/02/06/.
Youths from Ohanaeze, however, claimed that the plan would further marginalize the South-East region.
Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the National President of Ohanaeze Youth Council Worldwide, told reporters in a statement released Friday that Ndigbo people have been complaining about being left out because they only have five states, compared to certain other parts of the country that have six or seven.
According to Okwu, the fact that the representatives were now only suggesting five extra states for the South-East when other areas had more would only make matters worse.
In order to prevent the South-East’s animosity from getting worse, he asked the National Assembly to abandon the plan.
We were thrilled when he read the news about the Representatives’ plan to create a state. But after closely examining the suggested states, we saw that the South-East was being increasingly marginalized.
Ever since democracy was restored in 1999, our region has been begging for another state. However, those who are content with the Ndigbo people’s subjugation in this nation have always scuttled it.
