The Unstoppable Chorus for Change
Nigeria stands at a constitutional crossroads, where decades of centralized governance collide with rising demands for restructuring. At the heart of this agitation lies the clamor for new states—a movement dominating recent constitutional review hearings across northern and southern zones. With the National Assembly receiving forty-six formal requests for new states and one hundred seventeen demands for new LGAs, this seismic shift reflects deeper yearnings for equitable representation, resource control, and localized governance. Traditional rulers, governors, and grassroots movements have united in this historic moment, transforming town halls and hearing venues into arenas of democratic fervor. As the Senate Leader confirms the December 2025 deadline for transmitting proposals to state assemblies, Nigeria’s federation faces its most significant potential transformation since 1996. The air crackles with both hope and tension—a nation reimagining its foundations.
The State Creation Tsunami: Mapping the Proposals
The sheer volume of statehood demands reveals a nation actively redrawing its political cartography. Each geopolitical zone has unleashed a flood of proposals, grounded in historical grievances and futuristic aspirations.
Northwest’s Power Play
Kano—Nigeria’s most populous state—demands Ghari State plus twenty-six new LGAs, aiming to increase its local governments from forty-four to seventy. Kaduna champions Gurara State for Southern Kaduna, while Katsina resurrects the Kar’adua State bid. Jigawa revives a forty-year-old dream for Hadeja State, citing administrative neglect.
Northeast’s Sevenfold Vision
From Borno’s Savannah State to Adamawa’s Amana State, this region leverages security and marginalization arguments. Representatives insist Borno’s split is non-negotiable, citing twenty-seven LGAs and the largest population deserving better governance.
Southeast’s Parity Pursuit
Five proposals, including Etiti and Adada, aim to correct the zone’s structural disadvantage. With only five states versus the Northwest’s seven, this is a battle for numerical equality.
South-South’s Resource Revolt
Cross River’s Ogoja, Delta’s Warri, and Rivers’ Bori statehood movements tie autonomy to resource control. Community leaders lament how oil wealth remains paradoxically their poverty.
FCT’s Identity Bid
Abuja stakeholders demand recognition as a subnational entity—a symbolic challenge to its federal territory status. This isn’t mere cartography; it’s a renegotiation of belonging. With thirty-one state proposals and eighteen LGA requests confirmed, Nigeria’s map may soon defy its 1996 silhouette.
Beyond Geography: The Core Drivers of Agitation
Why this explosion of territorial demands? The answers lie in four tectonic shifts.
Developmental Marginalization
Communities like Akoko-Edo exemplify administrative abandonment. Residents describe state capitals as resource black holes where local taxes vanish without trace. In Borgu Emirate, farmers travel two hundred fifty kilometers for basic services—a daily indictment of centralized governance.
Security Imperatives
Bandits dominate ungoverned spaces in Niger and Kebbi, fueling the push for Kainji State. Security experts argue smaller states can deploy hyper-local intelligence to flush out terrorists. When criminals know the terrain better than police, statehood becomes a survival strategy.
Ethnic Recognition
Middle Belt minorities resist absorption into larger emirates. Community declarations state refusal to be cannibalized by majority tribes. For some groups, a new state isn’t just governance—it’s cultural resurrection.
Revenue Access
With LGA allocations tied to federal disbursements, new states promise direct access to national coffers. Kano’s bid for seventy LGAs mirrors Lagos’ demand to recognize thirty-seven LCDAs—a fiscal endgame masked as administrative reform.
The Constitutional Tightrope: Section 8 and Political Realities
Creating states isn’t a populist free-for-all; it’s a legal obstacle course. The Constitution demands two-thirds NASS approval, referendum with two-thirds local support, and simple majority of state assemblies. Past failures haunt this process. Since 1999, over twenty billion naira has evaporated in amendment exercises, often sabotaged by state assemblies or presidential vetoes. Previous attempts collapsed when only eleven state assemblies concurred—a stark reminder that consensus is elusive. Yet momentum builds with the December 2025 deadline for transmitting proposals—igniting both hope and skepticism. Critics note how constitutional reviews have become a four-billion-naira per cycle industry with little to show. Will this round defy history?
Parallel Reforms: State Police and Resource Control
Statehood demands intertwine with two other existential debates.
The Policing Revolution
The President declares state policing a necessity as farmers fear to tend fields. All thirty-six governors endorse it, but the Inspector-General warns of gubernatorial abuse. The compromise involves strict constitutional safeguards: federal oversight of arms procurement, an independent policing oversight commission, and community policing integration. Informal outfits already fill this vacuum—a reality the constitution must codify.
Fiscal Federalism Front
Governors demand states’ right to control natural resources and propose revising the revenue formula: federal forty percent, states thirty-five percent, LGAs twenty-five percent. This echoes calls to dismember the Exclusive List and return to regional resource sovereignty. When state survival hinges on monthly federal allocations, autonomy remains a mirage.
Traditional Institutions
Emirs lobby for constitutional roles as governance partners—not mere ceremonial figures. Traditional rulers argue they resolve conflicts and gather intelligence yet exist in legal limbo.
The Viability Debate: Prosperity or Bankruptcy?
Can new states survive Nigeria’s fiscal storm? Voices clash. Optimists point to Ebonyi—once a backwater, now a construction hub. Smaller states mean focused development, decentralization backers argue, noting how state police and resource control would unleash economic dynamism. Skeptics warn that turning LGAs to states compounds financial burdens without true federalism. With over eighty percent of current states dependent on federal allocations, critics condemn proposals as distracting histrionics amid national starvation. The math is brutal: could fifty-plus states drain more wealth than they create?
Regional Powerplays: The Equity Battleground
Statehood isn’t just governance—it’s arithmetic with geopolitical stakes. Southeast demands two extra states to match North-West’s seven, framing parity as existential for a zone bearing civil war scars. North-West rejects new states as unnecessary, guarding political dominance. Regional bodies insist any creation must achieve seven states per zone—a formula that could birth twelve-plus states overnight. This isn’t policy; it’s power calculus. When Kano seeks seventy LGAs while Lagos fights for thirty-seven, the real battle is over representation in revenue-sharing equations.
Pathways Forward: Reform or Restructure?
Nigeria’s choices crystallize into three roads. First, an incremental approach: prioritize one Southeast state plus state police as urgent justice, fast-track LGA autonomy via Supreme Court ruling, and adopt reserved seats for women. Second, radical restructuring: return to 1963 regionalism with resource control, implement neglected conference recommendations, and empower regions to create states. Third, foundational fixes: civil society warns that without electoral reforms ensuring votes count, territorial restructuring is theatre. Electronic transmission, diaspora voting, and INEC autonomy must precede new states.
The Federation’s Fork in the Road
Nigeria’s state creation agitation transcends map-redrawing—it’s a referendum on survival. As traditional rulers, governors, and minority groups mobilize behind these demands, the National Assembly faces a legacy decision: replicate military-era state creation by fiat or shepherd constitutional reorganization. With the presidency backing state police and decentralization, the December 2025 deadline offers a narrow window. One truth emerges: without addressing twin pillars of equity and viability, new states risk becoming fresh graves for Nigeria’s fiscal carcass. The reshaping has begun—whether it births prosperity or chaos depends on wisdom now. The Constitution must evolve or risk becoming a danger to the very unity it was meant to protect.
