By Aminu Isa
The Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 constitution recently revealed that it has received a Proposal for the creation of 20 additional states in Nigeria.As usual, mix reactions have trailed the Proposal.
While some argued that the creation of additional States will assuage the call for restructuring giving the perceived imbalance in the structure of the federation, others argued that the existing States are bankrupt and need to be merged with viable ones.These arguments are in line with equity and efficiency criterion.
The Nigerian federation has overtime been build around ethno- religious divides and state creation are always view along this line. Worst still, constituency delineation determine representation and even revenue allocation.It therefore follows that when new States are created, it will offer more opportunity for representation and revenue from the federation account.
The efficiency criteria will argue that more additional States will impose more burden on the lean finances of the State and that creating more will worsened the ailing economy. Those who argue along this line will cite the examples of how States relied heavily on the federation account for survival.
While one may not disagree completely with the arguments of the two divides, it will not be out of place if more Taxing powers are devolved to States and by extension Local Governments so that States and Local Governments can tackle development challenges that have more local contents.
