Constitution review: NGO seeks creation of two additional zones•Wants federal revenue allocated on zonal basis

A non-governmental organisation, Jubilee Democratic Emancipation Group Nigeria (JUDEG), has called for the enthronement of true federalism, which will guarantee fairness, dignity, reward for labour, development and eradication of corruption.
The Benin City-based group made the call on Thursday, in the Edo State capital, ahead of the commencement of the review of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly.
National Coordinator of JUDEG, Dr Dele Oluwatade, who presented the views of the group, called for the creation of two other zones, Middle Belt Zone from the North and another zone from the South-South to comprise Bayelsa, Delta and Edo states, thus bringing the number of zones in the country to eight.
Besides, the group also proposed that revenue allocation from the federation account should be based on zonal arrangement and that such revenue should be shared on the basis of equality of the zones.
The group argued that the zonal arrangement would, apart from reducing cost of administration, reduce agitations for states creation, adding that “it amounts to political insincerity for an insolvent state that is not self-sustaining to be divided.”
It gave its condition for a united Nigeria to include unreserved apology by the sharia North for religious intolerance, adequate compensation for lost lives and the pledge by the North to live in peace.
The group also asked that religious jurisprudence to be expunged from the constitution, while all religious courts must be made answerable to states and federal High Courts, just as it wanted governments to hand-off involvement in religious pilgrimages