From last week continues the enumeration of members of the Justice Ayo Irekefe committee inaugurated in 1975  to deliberate on the desirability or otherwise for the creation of new states in the country

BRIGADIER Godwin Alley, former Bri

gade Commander of Ikeja Cantonment, who was the boss of Major General Shehu Usman Yar’Adua(March 5, 1943 – December 8, 1997) and also the boss to my friend, Colonel Lawan Gwadabe (retd), former military governor of Niger State, who served as his ADC. The other member of the committee was Mr. C. Audifferen. 

The secretary of the committee was Dr. Patrick Dele Cole (83) from Abonnema in Rivers State. Dr. Cole attended St. Bartholomew’s School, Enugu; Baptist High School, Port Harcourt, 1954-1958; Ibadan Grammar School, 1959-1960; University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1962-1965; Free University of Amsterdam, Holland, 1966; University of Cambridge, England, 1966-1969; visiting Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, 1969-1973; also a fellow, King’s College, Cambridge, England, 1970-1973; administrative officer, Political Division, Cabinet Office, 1973-1976; Managing Director, Daily Times of Nigeria, 1976-1980; Ambassador to Brazil, 1987-1981; Secretary, Creation of States panel, 1975-1976; coordinator, Local Government Reforms, 1975-1976; member, Presidential Panel on History of Nigeria since Independence; member, Commonwealth Press Union; and member, International Press Institute. 

After the submission of Justice Irekefe’s report, General Murtala Mohammed created 19 states out of the 12 states created by General Yakubu Gowon in May 1967. On assuming power in 1995, General Ibrahim Babangida created Katsina and Akwa Ibom states on September 23, 1987 and later increased the number of states to 30 in 1991. So, there were 30 states in existence when General Sani Abacha inaugurated the Chief Mbanefo’s committee. 

After the inauguration, Chief Mbanefo set January 19, 1996 as the deadline for the submission of memoranda. Subsequently, his committee received 2,369 memoranda and 280 boundary requests. The members of the committee were Mrs. Adefemi Abeke Taire nee Williams, former Secretary to the Lagos State Government and Chief Kunle Oluwasanmi, from Ipetu Ijesha in Osun State. 

On December 16, 1997, General Sani Abacha appointed Chief Oluwasanmi, a former Customs Officer to replace Professor Iyawose Hagher as Minister of State for Power and Steel. 

The other members also include Mr. El-Nathan from Adamawa State, Alhaji Kofar Katsina, Chief Audu Ogbeh, former Minister for Agriculture and Natural Resources; Alhaji Kufobai, Obong Umana O. Umana, General Peter Ademokhai (retd.), former General officer Commanding, First Mechanised Division Kaduna.

Mr. Seyi Olowokere from Ilesha in Osun State, who retired recently as Director, Media, Federal Ministry of Labour was attached to the committee as press officer, while Professor Tunji Olaopa, now of the Nigeria Institute of Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, was the head of the Secretariat. Professor Olaopa who was appointed Permanent Secretary in December 2010, grew up in the school of thought of Professor Ojetunji Aboyade and Chief Simeon Adebo. A quintessential public servant, his latest book, The Unending Quest For Reform- An Intellectual Memoir, is a good read.

Chief Arthur Mbanefo was born on June 11, 1930 in Onitsha, Anambra State. He attended Government School, Ogwashi-Uku, 1937-1939; St. Mary’s School, Port Harcourt, 1940-1941; Christ the King School, Aba, 1942; Practicing School, Uyo, 1943-1944; Government School, Afikpo, 1944-1945; St. Benedict’s School, Ogoja, 1946; St Patrick’s School, Calabar, 1947-1953; Accountancy Studies, England, 1962; Centre for Applied Management and Technology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA, 1965-1966; Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, former Republic of Biafra, 1968-1970; became partner, Akintola Williams and Company, April 1965; also Managing Director, AW Consultants Limited, 1973; Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, July 1986; fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria; member, Nigeria Institute of Management. He later became Nigeria’s ambassador to the United Nations. 

After the submission of Mbanefo’s report, six new states were created: Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nasarrawa and Zamfara states, making the total number of states in the Federation to be 36. In 1976, there were 299 local governments in the country; in September 1991, there were 589 local governments. After the submission of the Mbanefo’s report, they were increased to 774 local governments. The breakdown shows 120 local governments in North Central, including Abuja, 111 in the North-East, 186 in North-West, 95 in South-East, 123 in South-South and 139  in South-West. 

To be concluded