The House of Representatives Thursday passed for first reading a bill for the establishment of Orlu state in the South-East to bring the number of states in the region to six.
The bill. which is sponsored by the Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Hon. Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency of Imo State and 15 other lawmakers is now set for second reading.
According to Ugochinyere, the creation of Orlu State will alter the 1999 Constitution, increasing the number of states in Nigeria from 36 to 37.
The new state will be carved out of Abia, Anambra and Imo states with Orlu as its capital city.
The bill states that “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) (herein referred to as the “Principal Act”) is altered as set out in this Bill; Section 3 of the Principal Act is amended as follows: There shall be thirty-seven states in Nigeria, that is to say, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Orlu, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara”.
The bill also seeks an amendment to the 1999 Constitution by inserting a new paragraph immediately after the Ondo State and before the Osun State paragraph, to read as follows: Local Government Areas as to be amended will now include “Orlu, Orsu, Oru West, Oru East, Ideato North, Ideato South, Njaba, Nkwerre, Nwangele, Isu, Oguta, Ohaji Egbema, Onuimo, Ihiala, Uga, Ihiala, Uli, Ozubulu, Akokwa, Arondizuogu, Umuchu, Umunze, Umuaku, New Ideato North, Nwabosi West, Nwabosi East, Owerre Nkworji, Alaoma, Amaifeke, Owerrebiri Umuowa.”
The principal sponsor, Hon. Ugochinyere argued that the creation of Orlu state would lead to the emergence of Ideato as a senatorial district and urged his colleagues to support the legislation to ensure its successful passage during the second reading.
