Overview: Why Nigeria Keeps Creating States
Nigeria's state creation history is the story of a nation perpetually renegotiating the terms of its own existence. From three colonial regions in 1914 to thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory in 1996, each exercise in state creation represented an attempt to resolve — or manage — the tensions between majority ethnic groups and minorities, between centralisation and regional autonomy, between military convenience and democratic legitimacy.
No two state-creation exercises had exactly the same motivation. Gowon's 1967 decision was a war measure, designed to fracture Biafra before the first shot was fired. Murtala's 1976 restructuring was an attempt to rationalise the map and bring government closer to the people. Babangida's 1987, 1991, and 1992 exercises were instruments of political management — creating new state capitals, new bureaucracies, and new political patronage networks. Abacha's 1996 final round completed a map that has not changed since, despite persistent demands for additional states, particularly from the South East's five-state zone.
The Three Regions (1914–1967)
The Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, created by Lugard's amalgamation of 1914, comprised a colony (Lagos) and two protectorates (Northern and Southern). By 1939, Richards had formalised three regions: Northern, Eastern, and Western. A fourth, the Midwest Region, was carved from the Western Region in 1963 following a referendum — the only state creation in Nigerian history to follow a democratic plebiscite, making it unique among all subsequent exercises carried out by military decree.
The regional structure was designed by Britain for administrative convenience, not to reflect Nigeria's ethnic geography. The Northern Region was enormous — larger than the south combined — and contained hundreds of distinct ethnic groups alongside the dominant Hausa-Fulani. The Eastern Region contained not only the Igbo majority but the Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio, and Ogoni minorities. The Western Region contained Yoruba but also the minority groups of what would become Edo and Delta states. These structural mismatches made state creation an inescapable political demand from independence onwards, as minority groups across all regions demanded self-governance free from domination by larger neighbours.
Twelve States — 1967 (Gowon)
On 27 May 1967 — three days before Ojukwu declared Biafra — General Gowon announced the division of Nigeria's four regions into twelve states. The timing was calculated: by splitting the Eastern Region into three states (East Central, South Eastern, and Rivers), Gowon simultaneously denied Biafra the minority populations of the Rivers and South Eastern areas and presented those minorities with a federal government promising them their own states rather than subordination to Igbo rule.
The twelve states were: North-Western, North-Central, Kano, North-Eastern, Benue-Plateau, Kwara (replacing the Northern Region); Lagos, Western, Mid-Western (replacing or retaining the other regions); and East Central, South Eastern, Rivers (replacing the Eastern Region). This division was also intended to prevent any single state from being large enough to dominate the federation — a direct response to the political pathology of the three-region system that had made the Biafra crisis possible.
Nineteen States — 1976 (Murtala Muhammed)
General Murtala Muhammed, who came to power in the July 1975 coup, was determined to create a more rational federal structure. The Irikefe Commission he established recommended seven additional states, addressing minority demands. On 3 February 1976, Murtala announced the creation of seven new states, bringing the total to nineteen, and simultaneously announced the decision to create a new Federal Capital Territory at Abuja. Murtala was assassinated nine days later on 13 February 1976, but his successor Obasanjo implemented the decisions.
The seven new states were: Bauchi (from North-Eastern), Borno (from North-Eastern), Imo (from East Central), Ogun (from Western), Ondo (from Western), Anambra (from East Central), and Niger (from North-Western). Each new state brought a new state capital, new government ministries, and new federal allocations to previously underserved areas — which is partly why state creation has always been popular with local populations even when dismissed by analysts as an exercise in patronage.
Twenty-One States — 1987 (Babangida)
General Ibrahim Babangida, who seized power in August 1985, created two new states in 1987: Katsina (from Kaduna) and Akwa Ibom (from Cross River). The creation of Akwa Ibom responded to long-standing Ibibio and other minority demands to be separated from Efik-dominated Cross River. With Akwa Ibom came control of substantial oil revenues that had previously gone to Cross River State — demonstrating how oil revenue calculations underlie many state creation decisions in the Niger Delta region.
Thirty States — 1991 (Babangida)
In August 1991, Babangida made the most sweeping single state-creation exercise since Gowon, creating nine new states and bringing the total to thirty. The new states were: Abia (from Imo), Delta (from Bendel), Enugu (from Anambra), Kebbi (from Sokoto), Kogi (from Kwara and Benue), Osun (from Oyo), Taraba (from Gongola), Yobe (from Borno), and Jigawa (from Kano). New state capitals were created — each requiring new government infrastructure and generating economic activity that bound local elites to the military government.
Thirty-Six States — 1996 (Abacha)
General Sani Abacha created the final six states in October 1996, bringing Nigeria to its current thirty-six: Bayelsa (from Rivers), Ebonyi (from Anambra and Enugu), Ekiti (from Ondo), Gombe (from Bauchi), Nassarawa (from Plateau), and Zamfara (from Sokoto). Bayelsa's creation was particularly significant — it gave the Ijaw people Nigeria's largest ethnic group in the Niger Delta their own state for the first time. Goodluck Jonathan, who would become President in 2010, was Bayelsa's first deputy governor.
Since 1996, no new states have been created despite persistent demands — particularly from the South East, which has the fewest states (five) of any geopolitical zone. The constitutional requirement for a referendum, complex legislative approvals, and the practical costs of creating new state machinery have combined to make further state creation politically difficult even as demands for it continue.
The FCT — Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory was carved from portions of Niger, Plateau, and Kwara states in 1976, following the Irikefe Commission's recommendation and Murtala's approval. The decision to move the capital from Lagos was motivated by: Lagos's overcrowding, the symbolic neutrality of a new capital not identified with any ethnic group, and the geographic accessibility of the Abuja location at Nigeria's centre. Construction began in the late 1970s under Obasanjo's government; the federal capital formally moved from Lagos to Abuja on 12 December 1991 under Babangida. The FCT is administered by a minister appointed by the President — its residents have demanded either statehood or enhanced political rights for decades without success.