NIGERIA: ADADA STATE

Ndi Igbo of Nigeria have for the past few years called for the creation of one more state in south east Nigeria to balance the power equation. South Eastern Nigeria (populated mostly by Ndi Igbo) is currently made up of five states (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States). Adada State is one of the states currently being considered to complete the number of states in the south eastern Nigeria to six, which is the regional average of states in Nigeria.

However, what prompted this blog is the claim by the chairperson of the committee promoting the realization of Adada state that Adada is economically viable.







I will beg to disagree. As far as I am concerned, very few states in Nigeria are viable. Apart from the oil, producing states and may be Lagos state the rest of the states in Nigeria are only parasitic States. If Ndi Igbo will tell themselves the truth the main reason for the call for one more state in the south east is for Ndi Igbo to get more share of the nation’s oil wealth.

However, the question I will like to ask Ndi Igbo is were is the wealth coming from? Are we asking for a greater share of our wealth or the wealth of the Niger Delta? Asking for one more state in the south east by Ndi Igbo is like an endorsement of the injustice currently taking place in the Niger Delta.

He who asks for equity must go with clean hands. If Ndi Igbo are complaining of the injustices against them by the Nigerian state then they must not be seen as encouraging injustice against another group.

What Nigeria needs is resource control. Let every state control every aspect of the resources in their territory. That is the only way we will know which Nigerian states are economically viable. As long as the present regime were federal allocations are disbursed to states with no bearing on the productivity of the state continue Nigeria will remain a one commodity economy.

Ndi Igbo should ask for a fairer formula for resource allocation that is based on indices like internally generated revenue, contribution to GDP and other indices that encourage productivity rather than using indices like land mass and population that promotes laziness.
Adada state will create more burdens for Nigeria; new politicians will have to be elected to mismanage the resources of the state. Therefore, as you can see Adada state will create one more pipeline for the siphoning of the wealth of Nigeria by corrupt and ineffective politicians.

Ndi Igbo may finally get the state they want but they must be told that the problems of Nigeria or Ndi Igbo for that matter cannot and will not be solves by concentrating on resources sharing but by resources creation. I wish Adada state and Ndi Igbo all the best.