By Pascal Ibe
Many WhatsApp users have continued to share a claim that Nigeria restructuring bill has been concluded and ready for ratification.
According to the claim posted on many WhatsApp groups recently, Nigeria will be made up of 42 States.
The states:
STATE OF THE NATION
BREAKING!!
NIGERIA RESTRUCTURING BILL CONCLUDED READY FOR RATIFICATION:
Below is the kite being flown by the Federal Government on Restructuring
Nigerian Economic Restructuring Bill 2021
[1] Nigeria will be made up of 42 states, with seven per each of her constituent geo-political zone. These shall be:
South-south
[1] Bayelsa State – Yenagoa
[2] Western Ijaw State – Patani
[3] Rivers State – Port Harcourt
[4] Cross River State – Calabar
[5] Akwa Ibom State – Uyo
[6] Edo State – Benin
[7] Delta State – Warri
Northeast
[1] Mambilla State – Gashaka
[2] Taraba State – Jalingo
[3] Adamawa State – Yola
[4] Borno State – Maiduguri
[5] Yobe State – Damaturu
[6] Bauchi State – Bauchi
[7] Gombe State – Gombe
Southeast
[1] Anioma State – Asaba
[2] Orashi State – Omoku
[3] Anambra State – Awka
[4] Imo State – Owerri
[5] Enugu State – Enugu
[6] Abia State – Umuahia
[7] Ebonyi State – Abakaliki
North-Central
[1] Abuja State – FCT
[2] Gurara State – Kafanchan
[3] Benue State – Makurdi
[4] Plateau State – Jos
[5] Nasarawa State – Lafia
[6] Kogi State – Lokoja
[7] Niger State – Minna
Southwest
[1] Kwara State – Ilorin
[2] Oyo State – Ibadan
[3] Ogun State – Abeokuta
[4] Lagos State – Ikeja
[5] Ondo – Akure
[6] Ekiti – Ado-Ekiti
[7] Osun – Oshogbo
Northwest
[1] Sokoto State – Sokoto
[2] Kebbi State – Birnin Kebbi
[3] Kaduna State – Kaduna
[4] Katsina State – Katsina
[5] Kano State – Kano
[6] Jigawa State – Dutse
[7] Zamfara State – Gusua
[2] Each state will be responsible for creating and funding its local governments as it deems fit. Local governments will be funded internally by the charging of a local tax, which will be augmented by a state grant representing no more than 10% of TV
[3] Over a 35 year period, we gradually migrate back to the 1957/58 revenue sharing formula agreed by our founding fathers at the Lancaster House Conferences in London under which the federating units will control all the resources within their domains and remit 50% to the centre
[4] Our federating units will keep 50% of all the revenue that they generate, put a further 20% into a central pot called the Excess Federation Account to which everyone can have access as the need arises, 10% will go into a geo-political zone account and the remaining 20% will go to into the Federation Account used to run the federal government
[5] With regards to all other resources, we shall move towards this immediately but in the case of oil and gas, the move will have to be gradual due to how dependent we have become on these two resources. A gradual migration shall take place over the next 35 years in this manner: 2000 – 13%, 2021 – 18%, 2023 – 20%, 2025 – 25%, 2030 – 30%, 2035 – 35%, 2040 – 40%, 2045 – 45%, 2050 – 50%
[6] Every one of our 42 states will be set a target of generating at least $2bn in export revenue. Any state government that attracts inward investment to the tune of $1bn, will get a corresponding grant from the federal government
[7] Any state that fails to generate as much revenue as it spends for two consecutive years as from 2020, will be subject to an immediate declaration of a state of emergency. It shall be administered centrally by the federal government until its books are balanced
[8] Every state must seek to generate at least 30% of its internal revenue from manufacturing and services, with a migration away from primary products to value added production
[9] Every state is free to create more local governments provided they meet the necessary criteria which includes holding a referendum and the fact that the local government area is self-sustaining. To be recognised as a local government area, basic facilities that must exist within the domain include 20 primary schools, five secondary schools, a local government headquarters, at least one vocational training college and at least one public health centre
[10] All local and state governments will as a matter of course award supply contracts to companies that manufacture products within Nigeria. Only as a last resort will companies that manufacture products abroad be granted government contracts.
A NEW NIGERIA IS POSSIBLE✅🇳🇬💥
Verification
Quick checks into the above claim revealed that an X user named @akere_s posted this in January 2024.
We discovered that the factional leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Simon Ekpa also shared this same claim on his X account in 2023.
Thefactwatch could not find any reports by any credible news organization in Nigeria, that the restructuring bill has been concluded.
But when we cited an article on Vanguard newspaper in January 2024, the writer Braeyi Ekiye disagreed with this restructuring bill, stating that it will create more problems in the country.
NO RESTRUCTURING BILL ANYWHERE
Our findings led us to a Fact Check by TheNation in 2023. On whether this bill is true, confirmation by TheNation indicated that It was only a proposal from a journalist and author, Ayo Akinfe, in one of his columns.
According to the Fact Check by TheNation, Akinfe, who authored the piece, said he writes 10-point columns every day on his website. The London-based journalist however said “Ignore all those wayo people attributing it to the government.”
Verdict
The claim of conclusion of restructuring bill which resurfaces on many WhatsApp groups recently is FALSE.
A fact check by TheNation in 2021 confirmed it’s just a proposal by a London based journalist.
Please note that thefactwatch is a verification platform owned by CrimeFacts news
