Only Six States in Nigeria are Viable, Says Aig-Imoukhuede

Segun James

The former Managing Director of Assess Bank, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has said only six states in the federation are viable, hence it is foolhardy for anyone to call for the creation of more states in the country.

Aig-Imoukhuede stated this at the 11th annual lecture of Aelex Legal Practitioners and Arbitrators held at the Muson Centre yesterday.

He said apart from Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Oyo, Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), all other states rely solely on the federal allocation to survive.
He said the situation of those state are compounded by the fact that even the revenues allocated to them are spent at the six viable states either by the government or by the people.

Also speaking in the same vein, the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, lamented that the type of federalism Nigeria operates does not make sense as states were created irrationally out of political exigencies instead of sound reasoning.
Earlier, the former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, had lamented the level of wastage in governance in Nigeria.

He told the story where he was advised to build an airport as his legacy to the state. But cried that while the project would cost over N20billion to build, the airport would only be generating N100,000 monthly to the state coffer. He stated that he rejected the idea.
Obi also lamented the lack of planning in government, saying that when he took over, there was no document to guide him on the going on in government that he was forced to adopt the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the state’s strategy for development.