Social media influencer and author, Reno Omokri has debunked insinuations that the South East region of Nigeria is short changed in terms of number of states and other benefits acruable to other regions.
Omokri wrote via X in response to allegation by an X user, Ugwu Dean, that the South East region is not fairly treated in number of states compared to the other regions.
He wrote:
Dear Ugwu,
Thank you for your feedback. If we must go by equity, the Southeast should not have even five states.
The old Western Region was the largest region in Southern Nigeria in terms of landmass and population. Yet it has only six states.
The old Eastern Region has a total of nine states, including Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers.
This idea that Nigeria is cheating the Southeast is bunkum. No region in Nigeria gains like the Southeast.
In 2024, Oyo State alone contributed ₦272.41 billion to the federal purse through VAT revenue and received only ₦116.83 billion. This is three times the contribution of the five Southeastern states collectively.
But have you ever heard Oyo State complain about being marginalised?
To be exact, in 2024, the five states of Nigeria’s South-East region together generated only ₦101.09 billion in Value Added Tax to the Federal Government and received ₦341.45 billion.
In terms of landmass, Oyo State alone is 28,454 square kilometres, which is equal to the land mass of the entire Southeast.
So, Ugwu, I ask you, if Oyo State alone, without a port, and being farther from a port than all of the five Southeastern states, contributes three times the revenue that the entire five states of the Southeast generate for Nigeria, then who should be complaining about being cheated by Nigeria?
Who should be asking for more states? Who should be demanding additional revenue?
Now, let us move to Kano. In terms of population, Kano State has about the same population as the entire Southeast. And Kano and Lagos jointly have more registered voters than the Southeast as a whole.
So, Ugwu, if you are in a court, by what logic would you justify your clamour for the Southeast to have an additional state based on the above facts, especially when you cannot financially maintain the five states that you currently have without being subsidised by the Federal Government from monies derived from the Southwest and South-South?
Thanks again, and may God bless you.
