The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review on Thursday proposed the creation of 31 new states in the country.

If the proposal scales through, the Nigerian state will be made up of 67 sub-national governments.

The proposal for new states was contained in a letter read during Thursday’s plenary session by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the session in the absence of the Speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas.

The committee chaired by Kalu proposed six new states for North Central, four in the North East, five in the North West, five in South East, four in South-South and seven in South West.

The letter read in part, “The committee proposes the creation of 31 new states. As amended, this section outlines specific requirements that must be fulfilled to initiate the process of state creation, which include the following:

1. New state and boundaries

“An act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new state shall only be passed if it requires support by at least the third majority of members.

2. The House of Representatives, the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area are received by the National Assembly.

“Local government advocates for the creation of additional local government areas are only reminded that Section 8 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, applies to this process.

“Specifically, in accordance with Section 8 (3) of the Constitution, the outcome of the votes of the State Houses of Assembly in the referendum must be forwarded to the National Assembly for fulfilment of state demands.

“Proposals shall be resubmitted in strict adherence to the stipulations. Submit three hard copies of the full proposal of the memoranda to the Secretariat of the Committee at Room H331, House of Representatives, White House, National Assembly Complex, and Abuja.

“Sub-copies must also be sent electronically to the Committee’s email address at info.hccr.gov.nj. For further information or contact, please contact the Committee Clerk at 08069-232381.

“The committee remains committed to supporting the implementing efforts that align with the Constitutional provisions and would only consider proposals that comply with the stipulated guidelines. This is coming from the Clerk of the Committee on Constitutional Review.”

The proposed new states are Okun, Okura and Confluence states from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa states from Benue; FCT state; Amana state from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi states and Savannah states from Borno and Muri State from Taraba.

Others are New Kaduna and Gujarat from Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari from Kano, and Kainji from Kebbi State; Etiti and Orashi as the 6th state in the South East Adada from Enugu, Orlu and Aba from the South East.

Also included are Ogoja from Cross River State, Warri from Delta, Ori and Obolo from Rivers; Torumbe from Ondo; Ibadan from Oyo, Lagoon from Lagos, Ogun, Ijebu from Ogun state as well as Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun States.

The wife of the president, Oluremi Tinubu, met on Tuesday with former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, at their uphill residences in Minna.

Mrs. Tinubu arrived in a private aircraft at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport in Minna at about 10.30 am.

She was received at the airport by the Niger state Governor, Dr Umaru Mohammed Bago and his wife, Hajiya Fatima Bago.

The wife of the president proceeded directly from the airport to the Uphill residence of former Military President Ibrahim Babangida, where she held a closed-door meeting with him for about 35 minutes.

Afterward, she visited the nearby residence of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, for another meeting that was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.

Journalists, except those in the Niger State Governor’s press crew, were not informed about the meetings. When asked, officials described the visits as private.

Details shortly…

Some armed men suspected to be kidnappers have abducted seven travellers, close to the Ipele community, along the Owo-Benin highway in Ondo State.

The attack occurred over the weekend, sparking concerns over rising insecurity in the area.

According to a source, the victims were coming from a state in the South-South region and heading for Akure, the Ondo State capital when the incident occurred over the weekend.

There were initially conflicting reports on the number of those abducted. But the spokesperson of Ondo State Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami, told newsmen that seven persons were kidnapped.

Odunlami said that the police have since swung into action to apprehend the hoodlums and rescue the victims as soon as possible.

The abduction comes shortly after the killing of five farmers at Ajegunle Powerline in Akure North Local Government Area.