One of the more contentious recommendations from the 2014 Nigerian Constitutional Conference was the creation of 18 more states in the country, which would bring the total to 54. The idea has often been mooted in different forms but continues to persist today. In February 2024, the Federal House of Representatives considered the creation of three new states; in December 2024, there was a bill to create a coastal state out of Ondo; in January 2025, Peoples Gazette reported presidential support for the creation of ‘Ijebu State’ out of present-day Ogun State; and in February 2025, one year later, the House of Representatives proposed a list of 31 new states. For many politicians, the creation of new states would help solve many of the country’s issues, including those concerning representation and fears of marginalization. But this decision has never been a cure-all.  

On 1 January 1900, Britain assumed control of northern Nigeria from the Royal Niger Company. To manage the territory, the British employed indirect rule, a method where local chiefs managed the affairs of their different chiefdoms as ‘native authorities’. However, there was also a division of the region into 13 different provinces for administrative management. These provinces were delineated into divisions and further divided into districts. The colony of Lagos and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria were united into a new colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria in 1906, before being amalgamated into Nigeria in 1914. Southern Nigeria was further divided into eastern and western Nigeria in 1939. Altogether, there was a chiefdom for Lagos and twelve provinces—six in the west and six in the east.  

After independence, regionalism continued to play a more active role in the Nigerian administration. Each region had a more ceremonial governor, and a premier, who headed the regional government. Provinces, however, and local governments to a greater extent, were subjugated by regions seeking more power and influence against the central government. This became an even stronger issue after the two coups of 1966 and the growing bid for secession by the eastern region under Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu. It led to a meeting in Aburi, Ghana in January 1967 to discuss a way forward and to try and address concerns surrounding Nigeria’s governing structure.  

However, on 27 May 1967, the head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, announced the creation of twelve states out of the existing four regions (the Mid-Western Region having been created in 1963). Gowon’s regime used the rationale of trying to avert the domination of minority groups by the larger ethnic groups, but there is a fair consensus that this was mostly done to weaken the strength and size of the Eastern Region ahead of a potential war. The creation of the South-Eastern and Rivers states ensured that more groups did not see the need to unite under the old Eastern Region—which was now mostly the East-Central state. This move played a role in shaping the way citizens approached the war and meant the secessionist state was fighting a war on two fronts—against the federal Nigerian state and within its territory.  

After the war ended in 1970, different groups saw the creation of states as a safeguard against marginalization and a way to ensure control over their destiny in the country. Individuals also saw a way to ensure influence by being strongmen able to direct affairs in their fiefdoms. In 1975, Murtala Muhammed—Gowon’s successor as head of state—created a panel led by Justice Ayo Irikefe to look into state creation. Under consideration were economic viability and spurring development. Yet, as would become the case in future delineations, a competing focus was to ensure that some could realistically claim a piece of federal revenue and determine how to share it. As preparations continued towards the return to civilian rule in 1979 and the role that states would play in the national legislature and revenue allocation, an ‘arms race’ of state creation to procure influence was set off.  

No states were created in the Second Republic (1979–1983) despite the National Assembly’s recommendation of 29 states in June 1983. In 1987, Katsina, carved out of Kaduna, and Akwa Ibom, carved out of Cross River, were created to make the number of states at that time 21. These changes could be traced to the electoral debacle that followed the 1979 elections and the need to determine what two-thirds of the states in the country were. But while the 1987 changes followed prior recommendations and addressed deep-seated conflicts, the 1991 changes seemed to validate the more negative impressions on statehood. There were three states created in the east—Abia, Anambra and Delta—Osun in the west, and five in the north—Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Taraba, and Yobe. This led to 16 states in the north and 14 in the south, further adding to the perceived imbalance and cementing the sentiment that states were a way for groups to remain relevant. 

General Sani Abacha seized power in 1993 and proceeded to create another committee led by Chief Arthur Mbanefo. There were requests for 72 new states and, on 1 October 1996, Abacha announced the creation of Bayelsa (out of Rivers), Ebonyi (out of Abia and Enugu), Ekiti (out of Ondo), Gombe (out of Bauchi), Nasarawa (out of Plateau) and Zamfara (out of Sokoto). These changes remain the last successful attempt at state creation and maintain the oft-cited imbalance between states in the north (19) and south (17).  

The clamour for new states has persisted, especially with the return to democracy. For some, the claims are to correct a historical disparity. Of the 13 provinces that northern Nigeria was divided into, only two have not been made states—Zaria, in present-day Kaduna, and Kabba, in present-day Kogi. The situation is a bit different in southern Nigeria, albeit with a smaller landmass and more groups to placate. It is also difficult to consider because several provinces have been broken into several present-day states. Parts of present-day Akwa Ibom and Cross River states were in the Calabar and Ogoja provinces, Enugu was in the Onitsha and Owerri provinces, and even the Cameroons province is now part of Cameroon, following the 1961 British Cameroons referendum. 

In western Nigeria, most of the provinces appear to have been aptly carved out—such as the old Ondo province giving birth to Ekiti and Ondo, the old Benin province producing Delta and Edo, and the Warri province being subsumed into Delta. The major difference appears to be the apparent merger of the Abeokuta and Ijebu provinces into Ogun State, explaining the recent clamour for an Ijebu State, which would be present-day Ogun East. These claims would no doubt hold more weight in any serious conversation on state creation despite the difficulty in achieving this so far. But a more necessary discussion would be on how Nigeria and Nigerians choose to interact with these states.