Alibaba Speaks On Why Some States Should Be LGA

Akpobome popularly known as Alibaba, a Public affairs commentator and media entrepreneur, has argued that some states the military regime created should be local government areas.

He stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Tuesday.

He noted that the military created some of the states of the Federation to appease some commanders who were later deployed to the states as administrators.

Subregionals that rely entirely on monthly funding from the federal government but are unable to make enough money to maintain their operations ought to be local government regions, according to Alibaba.

Nigeria was divided into three areas upon its separation from Great Britain in 1960: the Northern, Western, and Eastern regions. Two years later, the Mid-Western region was added, making four in total. But from 1967 to 1996, the military took what was already there and turned it into 36 states plus Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The 36 states contain 774 local government areas.

He said, “Some states were created just to appease some military officers. ‘Oh, this guy is a senior military officer, he comes from this area, we can’t give him a state now, let’s just create a state and take care of those people’.

“Or the issue of: We want to create four states in the north, let’s just balance it with some states in the south so that it will look deliberate because some of the states that were created needed to be local governments.

“Up till now, we have states that if they do not get federal allocations for three months, there will be problems in the state. Meanwhile, those same states have enough natural resources.”

According to the social commentator, Nigeria’s numerous problems arose when the federal military government ordered the states and the regions to transfer all of their funds to the national coffers and then started distributing funds to them via the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

In May 1999, when the nation was moving from military administration to democratic governance, he also took issue with the 1999 Constitution that General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), the former Head of State, had left for the nation.

He added, “Our constitution is the biggest problem we have now; it’s an anomaly, it’s not a constitution; it’s something that some people drafted, got some lawyers to knock it together because the constitution doesn’t speak to the growth and national development of our country.

“The truth is if you want this country to grow, let each state generate its own revenue. The Federal Government can assist them if they want to but the funds and revenue that comes from certain states should not be shared with every other person.”