The Senate has offered clarification on the bills recommending the creation of new states.
The Senate Committee on review of the 1999 constitution. received several bills seeking the creation of new states.
The spokesperson of the senate, Ajibola Basiru, released a statement on Sunday in which he stated that the committee received the proposals but never made any recommendation.
“Far from recommending creation of any state, the Senate Committee, while acknowledging receipts of several Bills proposing creation of new states, decided that it is not in a position to recommend or proposed the creation of any state unless there is compliance with the provisions of section 8 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic as amended,” the statement reads.
“For ease of reference, Section 8 of the Constitution provides:
“An Act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new State shall only be passed if-
“(a) a request, supported by at least two-thirds majority of members (representing the area demanding the creation of the new State) in each of the following, namely –
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“(i) the Senate and the House of Representatives,
(ii) the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and
(iii) the local government councils in respect of the area,
is received by the National Assembly;
(b) a proposal for the creation of the State is thereafter approved in a referendum by at least two-thirds majority of the people of the area where the demand for creation of the State originated;
“(c) the result of the referendum is then approved by a simple majority of all the States of the Federation supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses of Assembly; and
(d) the proposal is approved by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of members of each House of the National Assembly.”
The Senate spokesperson noted that the committee only decided to refer the requests received to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe compliance with section 8 of the constitution.
