By Tordue salem
ABUJA—Members of the House of Representatives holding disparate views may be on a collision course as the National Assembly is set to amend section 8 of the 1999 Constitution to create additional states in the federation.

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Rep Usman Bayero Nafada had last week promised that the House and the Senate would consider tinkering with  section 8 of the Constitution to create more states.

But a member of the House, Rep. Leo Ogor (PDP/Isoko-Delta), told Vanguard, that it is impossible for the National Assembly to create states at the moment.

He argued that the creation of states at the moment was unnecessary and an avoidable burden.
“I will never support the amendment of section 8 of the Constitution, because it is a waste of time. We don’t need new states.

I think we should even reduce the number of states. I don’t fancy the unitary system of government of administration we are operating today, so the creation of more states will create more avenues of wasting money.

Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution states in part that: “An act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new State shall be passed if, a request, supported by at least two-thirds majority of the members representing the area demanding the creation of the new State in each of the following, namely: the Senate and the House of Representatives, the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the local government councils in respect of the area, is received by the National Assembly”