Jones-Ere: Jigawa was created out of Kano, Rivers and Bayelsa has 31 LGA while Jigawa and Kano has 67

The Sun reports that Hon. Opukiri Jones-Ere, a former commissioner for youths and sports in Bayelsa, claims that the current Nigerian local government system is unfair and inefficient. He cites differences in the number of local government areas between states as evidence of this claim. He cites states like Bayelsa that have significantly fewer local government areas than states like Kano and Jigawa, which have more. He contends that creating more local government units in Bayelsa and other states would aid in fostering economic growth and lowering inequality. CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>

He said, “I was part of a protest in 2001 calling for the creation of more local government areas because the constitutional recruitment says that each state should have a minimum of 10 local government areas. In my local government, Southern Ijaw, you can travel three hours on water to another part of the local government. From Amassoma to Foropa, it is three hours on the high sea. And there are communities lined up on this three-hour journey. In Ogbia, you drive about three hours from one part to the other. I have been to 32 states in Nigeria and I know for a fact that four local government areas are clustered together in Kano. So, whatever the National Assembly would do to rectify this should be done. My fear is that we don’t have the numbers in the National Assembly to push this.

Jigawa was created out of Kano and it has 23 local government areas while Kano still has 44 local government areas. Rivers and Bayelsa has just 31 local government areas while Kano and Jigawa has 67. Akwa Ibom was created out of Cross Rivers State, it has 31 local government areas. So in essence, an additional 10 local government areas can be created out of Bayelsa to be at par with other states. This would ensure development is swift. Not only the state or Federal Government can bring development, but the local government is a key factor to development from the grassroots.” CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>