By Blessing Otobong-Gabriel
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and the Founder, Rule of Law Development Foundation, Joseph Daudu has condemned the creation of additional states, citing concerns about the potential impact on the country’s governance architecture and development.
Daudu made the disclosure at the 45th anniversary of his Call to the Nigerian Bar and 30th anniversary of his confernment with the rank of SAN Friday in Abuja.
He noted that creating more states could lead to increased financial burden on the federal government, potentially diverting resources away from essential public services and development projects.
It would be recalled that the Senate on Thursday passed the final reading for the creation of 12 new states out of the 46 states presented for passage into law across the six geo-political zones, describing it as a landmark move aimed at deepening federalism and bringing governance closer to the people.
Daudu noted that what should be on the agenda is the transmutation of the current 36 states to six institutionalised geo-political zones.
He said creating additional states might exacerbate the existing governance challenges, such as inefficient administration, corruption and lack of effective service delivery.
He advocated a more fundamental restructuring of Nigeria’s governance architecture, rather than simply creating more states, saying they might be pushing for constitutional reforms that address the root causes of governance challenges, rather than temporary solutions like creating new states.
Expressing his view, he said one of the urgent constitutional reforms needed is to restructure the governance architecture of the federation to devolve more powers to states. The current system, in which the federal government retains an overwhelming share of legislative and fiscal powers, has proven inefficient, corrupt and counterproductive.
“To combat this problem, which one thought would be the focal point of this administration it is necessary to; Amend the second schedule, Part I (Exclusive Legislative List) to transfer specific items to the Concurrent List which includes electricity generation and distribution, mineral resources, mining, police, prisons, and public transportation, Provide states with greater autonomy in resource management, particularly with respect to solid minerals and taxation, while maintaining federal oversight for coordination and the provision of security, encourage fiscal federalism to allow states to grow their economies and reduce dependence on federal allocations.
“This reform will promote competition, foster innovation in governance, and allow each state to harness its unique potential for development,” he said.
Speaking at the ceremoney, the Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo represented by the Attorney General of the State, Muizudeen Yunus Abdullah, who appreciated the amendment of the 1999 constitution by the National Assembly, noted that the need for devolution of power to the state should be paramount.
