At independence in 1960, there were three regions making up Nigeria–Northern, Eastern and Western regions. On August 9, 1963, the Mid-west region was created through a plebiscite as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution then, bringing the number of regions to four. At the beginning of the Nigerian civil war in 1967, Nigeria was divided into 12 states as a strategic move by the ruling military government headed by Yakubu Gowon to truncate what was then Eastern Nigeria that was renamed Biafra by the Governor of the region, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. At the end of the war agitation for further carving of more states out of the existing ones dominated the country’s political landscape. So, on February 3, 1976 the military government of Murtala Mohammed announced a 19-state structure for Nigeria. Incidentally, ten days after that historic move, Murtala was killed in a coup d’etat. On 23rd September 1987, Ibrahim Babangida created two new states to bring the number of states to 21. He redrew the map of Nigeria when he created nine states on 27th August, 1991. With 30 states by 1991, Nigerians were still asking form more. On October 1, 1996 on the anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, the structure was retouched again, this time by Sanni Abacha, the military ruler of the country then. Six new states came into being and Abuja was distinctively stood as Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Thirty-six states with a Federal Capital Territory. That is what Nigeria is today. And the agitation for autonomy is still in the minds of many communities. If the demand has been quiet in recent months, it is because the viability of a good number of the states is being called to question now that allocations from the Federal purse have declined to the extent that the states concerned are running on shoe-string budgets.