Nigeria’s current structure of 36 states is financially unsustainable, economist Bismarck Rewane said on Wednesday, warning that the country spends excessively on administration rather than development.
Rewane, Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, told Channels Television that the cost of running government at multiple levels outweighed the benefits.
“Nigeria cannot afford to have 36 states. It’s unviable. We spend too much money administering,” Rewane said. “This country is twice the size of California in terms of geographical space, and the number of people administering this country in terms of 774 local governments, 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory. Managing what?”
He suggested that Nigeria consider restructuring, including a possible return to regional governance.
“Take for instance, the old Western region is now split into several states being managed by governors, commissioners, special assistants and the likes. I think you have to rethink, to restructure, whether you will go back to regionalism or not,” he said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with more than 200 million people, is grappling with sluggish economic growth, high debt servicing costs and mounting inflation, which analysts say leave little fiscal space for heavy administrative spending.