Nigeria, Oct. 9 -- The House of Representatives has passed for the second reading of a bill seeking to create a new state in Nigeria's South-West geopolitical zone.

This followed the consideration of the bill to alter the Constitution to provide for the creation of Ibadan State with Ibadan as the proposed capital city.

If successful, the move would mark the first creation of a new state in Nigeria since the country's return to democratic rule in 1999.

The last state creation exercise took place in 1996, when the then-military regime of Sani Abacha established six new states, bringing the total number to 36.

Since the transition to democracy, several attempts to alter state boundaries or create new ones have failed to gain traction, ma...