The Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review has approved the creation of an additional state in the South-east geopolitical zone to address the long-standing agitation over the region’s perceived marginalisation in the nation’s political structure.

If ratified, the move will increase the number of states in the South-east from five to six. The decision was reached during the committee’s two-day retreat held in Lagos from October 24 to 25.

Chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin and co-chaired by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, the Committee deliberated extensively on the long-standing demand for a sixth state in the region.

Kalu has consistently championed the cause, saying the approval was anchored on equity, justice, and fairness.

The committee also considered a wide-ranging proposal for constitutional amendments, including 55 separate requests for new states across the federation.

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Briefing journalists after the meeting, a member of the committee, Senator Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West) described the decision as “a right step in the right direction,” noting that it would help address long-standing feelings of marginalisation in the South East.

“The most important of all the approvals that we have gotten is that we have agreed today to give an additional state to the South-East to balance it six-six states per geo-political zone regardless of the North-West that has seven states,” he stated.

“We have set up another committee to look at modalities to create more states for areas that need more states. These are the things that we have achieved today. An additional state for South-East is a major achievement of this final retreat of the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) senator also weighed in on the security challenges, saying the Committee stepped down the issue of the creation of state police.

According to him, the Joint Committee set up a committee to closely look at demands for state police as well as local government and submit their report within two weeks.

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