Atunyota Akpobome, widely known as Alibaba, a public affairs commentator and media entrepreneur, has suggested that several of Nigeria’s 36 states should be reclassified as local government areas.
During his appearance as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Tuesday, as monitored by Iwitnesslive, the veteran comedian expressed his viewpoint. He pointed out that the military established some states to accommodate certain commanders who were subsequently assigned as administrators.
Alibaba highlighted the inefficiency of sub-regional governments that rely solely on federal allocations for their sustenance without generating sufficient revenue independently. He proposed that such entities should be downsized to the status of local government areas.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s historical context, Alibaba noted that at independence in 1960, the country had three regions—Northern, Western, and Eastern—before the Mid-Western region was created two years later, bringing the total to four.
However, between 1967 and 1996, the military dismantled the regional structure, establishing 36 states alongside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Presently, there are 774 local government areas distributed across the 36 states.
Alibaba 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.
“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.”
The social commentator said Nigeria’s multifarious challenges started when the federal military government asked the regionals and the states to bring all their monies to the national purse and then began to give them whatever they thought they should get through the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
He also faulted the 1999 Constitution bequeathed to the country by the military regime of ex-Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd), during the country’s transition from military rule to democratic governance in May 1999.
