Nigeria Restructured: 12 States Replace 4 Regions

On May 27, 1967, General Yakubu Gowon abolished Nigeria’s four regions and created 12 states. The move was strategically designed to weaken regional power blocs — particularly the Eastern Region, which was split into three states, depriving the Igbo heartland of the oil-producing areas in Rivers and South-Eastern states.

Three days later, on May 30, Ojukwu declared the independence of the Republic of Biafra. The state creation decree was both a political masterstroke (winning minority support away from Biafra) and a direct provocation. It established the precedent of using state creation as a political tool — a practice that would continue until Nigeria reached its current 36-state structure in 1996.