Benin Republic to be Nigeria’s 37th state
The Federal Government says the President of Benin Republic , President Patrice Talon, has expressed preparedness to join Nigeria as the 37th state of the country .
. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama made this known to newsmen after a close door meeting with Beninoise Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation,Aure’lien Agbenonci.
The Minister said President Talon made the offer for the country to become part of Nigeria when he visited President Muhammadu Buhari some weeks ago..
The Beninoise President was quoted as saying” as far as they are concerned,they want in reality for Benin to be the 37th state of Nigeria.”
Benin Republic formerly Dahomey, by 2019 statistics had a population of 11.8 million people.
The country has 42 ethnic groups with the largest being Fon (Dahomey) group accounting for 1. 7 million speakers followed by Yoruba 1 .2 million, the Aja (600,000) the Bariba (460,000) Ayizo ( 330,000) Fulani (310,000) and the Gun ( 240,000).
