Erhuvwu Etarhienyo
Plateau speaker rejects creation of new states, advocates for strengthening local governments
Honourable Gabriel Dewan has rejected the idea of creating new states, advocating instead for the strengthening of local governments at the grassroots level.
The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Gabriel Dewan, has expressed strong opposition to the proposed creation of additional states in Nigeria.
He believes that instead of expanding administrative structures, the government should prioritize addressing the country’s pressing challenges.
He argued that Nigeria’s governance system is already structured across federal, state, and local levels.
Rather than creating more states, he suggested that strengthening local governments would be a more effective way to address concerns about marginalization.
“I am against any creation of additional states for now. The reasons are very simple. I don’t see the need for creating more states when we have yet to manage the existing ones. We have so many issues that we need to channel our energy and strength to salvage the nation rather than creating more states to add more wages to the nation,” Honourable Gabriel Dewan said.
“For me, (marginalisation) is not the excuse because we have a government at the grassroots level. We have councillors, we have chairmen, we have house members, we have a house of reps, we have senators, and we have governors before the president. If the governors are far away from the citizens, what we need to do is to empower our local governments and councillors who are close to the electorates at the grassroots, and people will feel the impact of government. It’s not about the creation of states,” he added.
Dewan stated that Nigeria has not yet effectively managed its existing states, so creating new ones would be unnecessary.
Dewan noted that Nigeria is dealing with major socio-economic problems like high unemployment, rising school dropout rates, failing infrastructure, and public health issues. In his view, tackling these challenges should be the priority instead of adding more states.
When asked whether creating new states would help address injustices and marginalization, Dewan disagreed, saying that the real priority should be ensuring unity and fairness.
“Yes, there are a lot of things that make people believe that injustice is being perpetuated in this nation, but that is not a yardstick for the creation of more states.
Instead, we should come to a round table to discuss the way forward. For me, I think we should channel ourselves towards
Read more:Â Plateau speaker rejects creation of new states, advocates for strengthening local governments
preaching unity and treating each other as one entity, he said.
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He proposed that shifting more power from the federal and state levels to local governments would make governance more accessible to the people.
“If it is established that the governors or presidency are far away from the citizens, then let’s empower our local government.
Let’s reduce some of the powers vested at the top down to the grassroots, and the people will feel the impact of the government,” he added
He proposed that shifting more power from the federal and state levels to local governments would make governance more accessible to the people.
“There is no ethnic group that does not have councillors at the grassroots level.
They may not have the capacity to become governors in their state, but they have the capacity to become councillors and local government chairmen within their jurisdiction.
That is why I said the council and councillor should be empowered, and power should be reduced from the top down to the grassroots. That will give ample opportunity for all ethnic nationals who feel marginalised to have a voice and representation at the grassroots level, he stated.
