The Northern delegates caucus at the ongoing national conference in Abuja has kicked against the scrapping of local government councils as the third tier of government, describing such recommendation as retrogressive an undemocratic.

Some members of the conference had within the week advocated the scrapping of local government councils as the third tier of government, saying they had become irrelevant.

However, the northern delegates, through their spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, while defending the existence of local government councils, said the advantage of “smaller components as federating units like states is that apart from addressing the concerns of the minorities, the states cannot be strong enough to be threat to the centre, thereby making for a stronger Nigeria.”

The caucus said rather than a return to the old concept of regionalism, states should be left as the federating units. “When people say the minorities asked for regions and not states as federating units, it is because they do not know that states and local governments are nearer the people, and so address the fears of the minorities more than the zones.

The 36 states of the federation could as well be called 36 zones of Nigeria. It is just matter of name,” said Sani. The caucus also said it was not against creating an additional state in the South-East but that there must be criteria for creation of states. It opined that a mere clamour on the basis of equality is not justice because equality should come with equity.

“We must remember that the former Eastern region currently has nine states while former Western region has eight states. If it were on basis of equality the West would have hankered that the zone should have nine states also.

“The North that has three zones and with big land mass and huge population over the South has only 19 states. But we know land and population are serious factors in creation of states for obvious reasons that states exist for human beings and there is problem of development, and so should be considered in any exercise for creation of states, however defined.

“That is why Aristotle’s definition of injustice as not only when equals are treated unequally but also when unequals are treated equally has appeal. North-West cannot reasonably be treated equally with South East on the basis of population and land mass,” the caucus said.

On the issue of local councils, the caucus added that; “To say local government be removed from the constitution and right for their creation be exclusive preserve of the governors, ignores what the governors do with local government and state electoral commissions.

“So, for local governments to deliver on the promise of their existence, they should remain in the constitution as the only way to ensure the whole nation can have a say in their creation.”

Meanwhile, the northern delegates have also condemned the spate of bomb blasts in some parts of the country. According to Sani, the Northern Delegates Forum is very disturbed because the destruction of lives and property have far reaching implications for socio-economic and political development of those affected and of Nigeria. “Most of all, they are internecine because such terrorism hardly wins the wars which they fight across the world.

Only constructive engagements have so far addressed concerns of the insurgents. “Where that has been the experiences across the world that the insurgents and the state must end up at the negotiation table, then one wonders the wisdom of waste of human lives through violent activities”, he added.

Sani said it is against this backdrop that the Forum condemns the killing of Nigerians, including children and women by bomb blasts and gun men.

He appealed to perpetrators of such acts to put an end to the dastardly act in favour of civilized approach of addressing any perceived concern.