State. Regions. Provinces
The word State is associated with mostly American States, enjoying a great deal of autonomy. Provinces are usually associated with monarchy. While regions, for example, in Nigeria, were present during the British colonization of Nigeria. Since 1967, Nigeria uses the word State, such as Kano State, Kaduna State, Oyo State, etc.
Basic item in the creation of a new state is the desire of the majority voice of a group seeking a new sate. Usually, such a movement is the result of political under-representation, development neglect, discrimination/persecution, cultural/linguistic domination, marginalization often by majority.
Councils or elected rep of the Nigerian group vote. Majority vote is submitted to the constitutional Court. The court accepts the majority vote. It then orders the government to implement the creation of the new state. This is Nigeria's way of creating states.
Ethiopia's process is cumbersome, made longer and difficult. The Councils/Rep majority vote is submitted to the Houses of parliament. They have no respect for majority vote of the people. They would just sit on it for years without acting. They can order new voting accusing the previous majority vote was elites vote, not that of the people.
When they allow the majority vote of the councils, they would order the Election Board of Ethiopia to carry out a supervised referendum. If majority voted yes in the referendum, the EEB requests the federal government to set the boundaries of the new sate and declare it created by law.