A proposal seeking to establish 31 new states in Nigeria has collapsed before even reaching the screening stage in the House of Representatives.
A senior official of the House, who spoke anonymously, revealed that none of the proposals followed the constitutional process, making it impossible for them to be considered.
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Benjamin Kalu, had announced on February 6, 2025, that the House received the proposals for the creation of new states. However, he emphasized that they must be resubmitted in line with constitutional procedures before March 5, 2025.
Meanwhile, a lawmaker who spoke to TheCable disclosed that the proposals had already failed before any discussions could begin.
According to him, Section 8(1)(a) of the Constitution mandates that the first step in creating a new state requires the signatures of at least two-thirds (⅔) of elected representatives from the affected areas at both national and state legislative levels. Since this requirement was not met, the proposals automatically collapsed.
“These proposals were submitted as written petitions from the public and private member bills. This was confirmed by the committee’s secretary in a briefing to the House. The Deputy Speaker read the letter and reaffirmed that due process was not followed.
“However, some media outlets misreported the situation, falsely claiming that the House had approved the creation of 31 new states,” the lawmaker explained.
