GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT
After the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 into a
geographical and political entity known as Nigeria, the government at the center has always
been responsible for the creation of sub-political entities known as regions, which later
metamorphosed into states at the end of the Nigerian civil war with the introduction of the
1979 constitution. The statutory institutionalising of local governments as the third tier of
government in Nigeria, in 1996, which was given constitutional backing under the 1979 and
subsequently the 1999 constitutions, has exposed the inherent weakness that occasioned the
fusing of people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds into one. The failure of some
state governments to exercise their power to create them without recourse to the National
Assembly has given rise to reoccurring issues of conflict between the government at the
center and state governors. Thus, this paper examines the historical evolution of state and
local government creation in Nigeria and the constitutional and legal procedures for their
creation. It also highlights issues influencing and militating against the creation of new local
government areas in the country, while x-raying their democratic structure under the
country’s constitutional democracy. It recommends a strict adherence to the constitutional
provisions and procedures for the creation of state and local government areas in the
country.
KEYWORDS: Constitution, State, Local Government Area, National Assembly, State
House of Assembly, Quorum