A bill to alter the 1999 Constitution to create Etiti state in the southeast has scaled through the first reading in the House of Representatives.

The proposed state is to be created out of the present Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

When created, the new state will have 11 local government areas drawn from the five states with headquarters at Lokpanta.

The bill seeks to alter three sections of the 1999 constitution, to delete the word 36 and replace it with the word 37 to accommodate the new state, and to insert the word Etiti, immediately after Enugu in the list of states contained in the Constitution.

It also seeks to alter the listing of local government according to states and transfer the 11 local government areas from their current states to the new state.