A Bill proposing the creation of Etiti State from Anambra, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States, has passed first reading at the House of Representatives.
The Bill to create one more state from the South-East was presented for initial review during plenary on Tuesday.
Five members of the House of Representatives; Amobi Ogah, Miriam Onuoha, Kama Nkemkama, Chinwe Nnabuife, and Anayo Onwuegbu, presented the proposal to form a new state from the five states in the region.
The proposed State would consist of 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) selected from the mentioned states with the capital designated to be situated in Lokpanta.
The proposed Bill aims to make changes to three sections of the 1999 constitution.
Etiti would come right after Enugu in the list of States in the amended 1999 Constitution.
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The LGAs to be affected by the creation of the proposed state are Isuikwuato and Umu-Nneochi in Abia, Orumba North and Orumba South in Anambra, Ivo and Ohaozara in Ebonyi, Aninri, Awgu, and Oji River in Enugu, as well as Okigwe and Onuimo in Imo.
Also, the Bill seeking to create Adada State, an additional State in the South-East geo-political zone, passed its first reading in the Senate.
The bill, which has been cited as the “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Alteration) Bill, 2024 (SB. 482)” was sponsored by the lawmaker representing the Enugu North Senatorial District, Okey Ezea.
According to Ezea, it seeks to amend Section 3(1) and the First Schedule, Part 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to allow for the creation of another state in the South-East region.
The move was aimed at bringing the number of states in the region to six as it is in other geo-political zones.
The agitation for the creation of Adada State had started since 1983 when the late Senator Isaiah Ani, who represented the Nsukka senatorial zone in the Second Republic, presented the Bill.
