Tinubu to receive bill proposing regional govt

President Bola Tinubu is set to receive a draft bill on Friday proposing a return to a regional system of government for Nigeria.

The bill, written by Akin Fapohunda, a prominent chieftain of the Yoruba socio-cultural group Afenifere, seeks to change the current governance model established by Decree 24 of 1999.

The proposed legislation titled “A Bill for an Act to Substitute the Annexure to Decree 24 of 1999 with New Governance Model for the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, seeks, among others, new extant laws to be cited as “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria New Governance Model for Nigeria Act 2024.”

The bill was recently disowned by the House of Representatives, whose spokesman, Akin Rotimi, and the Chairman, Committee on Rules and Business, said it had yet to be listed for deliberation in the ongoing moves to review the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

However, Fapohunda confirmed that the bill would be transmitted to the President on Friday, stating, “I’m submitting my letter (draft bill) today but I will wait for seven days before releasing it to the public.”

Fapohunda, who also represents the Coalition of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities, disclosed to the press that the organisation is proposing the division of the country into eight geo-political regions with approximate interim boundaries.

The proposed regions, according to Fapohunda, include the southern region to be made up of Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, and Cross Rivers States and “optional inclusions of the Annang, Effik, Ekoi, Ibibio, Oro Ohaji/Egbema in Southern Imo, the Adonia, Efemia, Ijaw, Ogoni, Bini, Ishan, Isoko, Urhobo and the Ijaw-speaking people in Northern Ondo State with land contiguity.”

He continued, “The south-eastern region consists of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states. The Western region comprises Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, and Ekiti States, incorporating the Yoruba-speaking people in Kogi and the Igbomina people in Kwara State. Additional options would be the Itsekiri people of Delta State and Akoko-Edo people of Edo State to make their respective choices.”

Others include the Mid-Western Region, “made up of Edo and Delta States, possibly incorporating the Anioma people and the Eastern Middle Belt Region, comprising the Northern Cross River, Southern Kaduna, Southern Borno, Adamawa, Benue, Kogi, Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba states.”

The Western Middle Belt Region comprises Southern Kebbi, parts of Kwara and Niger States, while the North Eastern Region will be made up of parts of Borno, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa, and Yobe States.

The North Western Region, according to the Afenifere chieftain, comprises Kaduna, which is part of Kebbi, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara States.

Fapohunda said the coalition envisaged a two-tier government, federal and regional, adding that the latter would be at liberty to manage her affairs, “including the creation of sub-entities based on the stipulations that are agreed upon and embedded in their respective constitutions.”