The Labour Party governorship candidate in the November 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa State, Udengs Eradiri has demanded for the creation of more local government area in the state.
In a statement he released on Saturday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the former commissioner for youths in Bayelsa State, frowned at what he described as the deliberate injustice and marginalization of the only homogenous Ijaw state in the country in terms of the number of local governments.
He therefore called on the National Assembly and the federal government to redress the injustice by creating more local government councils in Bayelsa State.
Eradiri 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.
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.
The former Ijaw Youths Council president, called on the National Assembly especially the state’s caucus in the assembly to correct the abnormaly by pushing for the creation of additional 10 local government areas for the state.
Eradiri argued that the National Assembly can seize the window provided by the ongoing legislation for the creation of additional states in the country to increase the number of local government areas in the state.
He observed that among all the states in the country, Bayelsa remains the only state with eight local government areas, despite its land mass being greater than others like Lagos and states in the South East that have more local government areas.
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Eradiri said: “This issue has continued to agitate our minds and it is high time various authorities like the National Assembly and the federal government consider 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 contribution to the country’s economy and it’s large land mass as well as increasing population qualify Bayelsa for 10 additional local government areas.
“We are hereby 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.”
He also appealed to the state Governor, Douye Diri, to constitute a team from within and outside the state to push for the demand for more council areas in the National Assembly.
