A member representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Mr. Emmanuel Jime, yesterday, affirmed that the ongoing constitutional amendment exercise was not going to lead to state creation in the country.
The lawmaker hinted that a lot of Nigerians were misled into thinking that the Committee would embark on creation of additional states, saying that state creation was not in their agenda.
Jime, while fielding questions from newsmen in Makurdi, Benue State capital, however said the National Assembly has not completely dumped the issue of state creation as being held in some quarters.
His words, “The constitutional amendment process was not intended to lead to states’ creation. I think that is perhaps what people, in my view must understand. There is a procedure in the 1999 Constitution as to how a state can be created. The question we had put to Nigerians in the course of the exercise was whether we should retain the procedure or amend it. So as it is, it is argued and rightly too, that to create a state under the present constitution is cumbersome and it is almost impossible to achieve.
“So, I believe that people have to understand that this constitutional amendment process was not meant for a state creation exercise; it was to look at the provision of the constitution and see if we could amend the process. And if we could amend it, then people can submit their requests based on the new conditions as basis of amendment, but if we don’t amend, it means that people can only take advantage of the present position to be able to make a claim for state creation.
“This is the way I understand it; I think a lot of people were misled into thinking that we can carry out both state creation and the amendment process at once. There was no way that would have happened.”
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