A former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Udengs Eradiri, has called on the National Assembly and the Federal Government to correct the local government councils’ anomalies in Bayelsa State.
Eradiri, a former Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Bayelsa, said the state where crude oil was first found in commercial quantity had been suffering injustice since it was created with only eight local government areas by the late former Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha.
He wondered why different administrations and various sessions of the National Assembly had carried on over the years as if all was well with Bayelsa’s constitutional composition in terms of the number of local government areas.
Eradiri, a former Commissioner for Youths and later Environment in Bayelsa, called on the National Assembly especially the state’s caucus in the Assembly to correct the abnormality by creating additional 10 local government areas for the state.
Eradiri in a statement in Port Harcourt,.Rivers State, on Friday, argued that the National Assembly could seize the window provided by the ongoing legislations for the creation of additional states in the country to increase the number of Bayelsa’s local government areas.
Eradiri noted that among all the states in the country, Bayelsa remained the only state with eight local government areas despite its landmass being greater than others like Lagos and Southeastern states that have more local government areas.
He said: “This issue has continued to agitate our minds and it is high time various authorities like the National Assembly and the Federal Government considered it as a matter of urgency.
“There is no justification for Bayelsa State to still have only eight local government areas. The state’s quantum contributions to the country’s economy and it’s large landmass as well as increasing population qualify Bayelsa for 10 additional local government areas.
“We are here by calling on the National Assembly and Bayelsa State caucus in the Assembly to do the needful by capitalising on the ongoing moves to create more states to increase the number of Bayelsa’s local government areas”.
Eradiri appealed to the state Governor, Senator Douye Diri, to constitute a team from within and outside the state to push for the demand in the National Assembly.