How States Were Established In Nigeria – Date And Who Was In Power

There are moves by the 10th National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to create new states.

Naija News had earlier reported that the lawmakers have intentions to create seven new states in the country.

Nigeria’s state creation has been a gradual process, reflecting the country’s complex ethnic, cultural, and political landscape.

However, this article is centred on how the thirty-six (36) states were created with the dates and the head of state responsible for the creation.

1963

Mid-Western Region (now split into Edo and Delta States) was created from the Western Region.
1967

The Gowon regime established 12 states, breaking away from the initial regional structure:

North Western State

North Eastern State

Kano State

Kwara State

Benue-Plateau State

Rivers State

Western State

Lagos State

Mid-Western State

East Central State

South Eastern State

Cross River State

1976

Seven new states were created by the Murtala Mohammed regime:

Bauchi State

Borno State

Gongola State (later divided into Adamawa and Taraba)

Imo State

Niger State

Ogun State

Ondo State

1987

Akwa Ibom State and Katsina State were carved out from Cross River and Kaduna States, respectively.

1991

Under the Babangida administration, nine states were created:

Abia State

Enugu State

Delta State

Jigawa State

Kebbi State

Osun State

Kogi State

Taraba State

Yobe State

1996

The Abacha regime added six more states to bring the total to 36:

Bayelsa State from Rivers State

Ebonyi State from parts of Abia and Enugu States

Ekiti State from Ondo State

Gombe State from Bauchi State

Nasarawa State from Plateau State

Zamfara State from Sokoto State.