NASS Joint Committee Approves Creation of Additional State for the Southeast
The National Assembly joint committee on Constitution Review has approved the creation of an additional state for the Southeast geo-political zone.
The decision of the committee on the state creation of the additional state was reached at a retreat in Lagos which commenced on Thursday 23, October 2025.
According to a statement by the media unit of the committee, the resolution was reached on Saturday after the committee reviewed 55 proposals it received for state creation across the country, the committee resolved that in the spirit of fairness and equity, the Federal Government should create additional state for the southeast as it currently has five states while other geopolitical zones have at least six states each.
The session was chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, and co-chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, while Senator Jibrin chairs the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu chairs the committee in the House of Representatives.
The Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu has been at the forefront of the agitation for the creation of additional state in the southeast in alignment with other lawmakers.
Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) moved a motion for the creation of the new state, which was seconded by Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/Ewekoro, Ogun State) at the retreat.
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“The motion received the unanimous support of committee members and was adopted,” part of the statement read.
Also, the joint the committee established a sub-committee to consider the creation of additional states and local government areas across all six geo-political zones, noting that a total of 278 proposals were submitted for review.
In his remark, the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman of the committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, urged members to rally support among their colleagues at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly to ensure the resolutions sail through during voting.
“We need to strengthen what we have started so that all parts of the country will key into this process.
“By the time we get to the actual voting, we should already have the buy-in of all stakeholders—from both chambers and the state Houses of Assembly,” he said.
