BAUCHI STATE LEGAL SYSTEM AND PROFILE

Bauchi State, with capital at Bauchi, is located in the north-eastern part of It is located between latitudes 9^o3 and 12^o3^l north of the equator. Longitudinally, the state lies between 8^o50^l and 11^o east of the Greenwich meridian. The state is bordered to the north by Kano and Jigawa, Taraba and Plateau to the south, Gombe and Yobe to the east and Kaduna to the west.

It was created by the General Murtala Mohammed military dictatorship on the 3^rd February 1976 when the defunct North-Eastern state of Nigeria was broken up into three different states: Bauchi, Borno and Gongola. Bauchi State has retained its 1976 boundaries in spite of two subsequent state creation exercises in 1987 and 1991 leaving it as the fifth largest state in Nigeria with a total land area of 49,259 km².  Bauchi is also one of the states in Nigeria that span two distinctive zones, namely, the Sudan savannah and the Sahel savannah zones.

Temperatures are generally high in the state. Mean daily temperatures range from 29.2^oC in July and August to 37.6^oC in March and April. The mean minimum ranges from about 11.7^oC in December and January to about 24.7^oc in April and May.

The population of Bauchi State according to a recent estimate from the National Population Commission is at 4,653,066- Male: 2,369,266; Female: 2,283,800 which make it the eleventh most populous state in Nigeria. Agriculture, particularly irrigation agriculture and animal husbandry, employs a large segment of the population. The state also has several mineral deposits namely gold, cassiterite (tin ore), columbite, gypsum, wolfram, coal, limestone, lignite, and iron ore. Major languages include Bole, Fulfulde and Hausa.

Currently, the State currently owes its legal existence to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a State, it is constitutionally mandated to establish:

1. an Executive arm of government headed by an elected Governor;
2. a legislative arm of government which members shall be drawn from constituencies defined in the Constitution. Its activities are presided over by a Speaker elected by the members of the State House of Assembly which oversees the exercise of the State’s legislative energies;
3. a judicial arm made up of judges, magistrates and other officers that help in the administration of justice and related activities within the State. The judicial arm is headed by the State’s Chief Justice. Nonetheless, judicial pronouncement of the State’s tribunals are subject to the appellate review of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in that order;
4. maintain the Local Government level of governance. Presently, the Nigerian Constitution prescribes 20 Local Government Areas for the State; and
5. mobilize the powers of the State, the institutions and resources of  its arms and levels of government in order to secure a socio-economic environment for persons resident in the State and its other stakeholders to pursue legitimate goals in dignity under the State’s justice administration umbrella.

The Bauchi State legal system comprises;

1. the compendium of Constitutional provisions applicable to the State as one of the 36 States that constitute the Nigerian Federation;

2. Laws made by the Federal Legislature applicable throughout the entire federation or specifically to Bauchi State;
3. Laws made (or deemed to have been made), by the State’s legislature;
4. Laws made by Local Government Councils in the State;
5. Customary laws or other customs of the market place applicable under the operation of Law;
6. Judicial precedents of the courts of the State and of appellate courts with jurisdictions over its tribunals  like the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria;
7. Judicial precedents of federation tribunals like the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Investments and Securities Tribunal and so on to the extent to which their mandates allow;
8. Law enforcement institutions, law enforcement officers, judges, legal practitioners, judiciary workers,  other professionals and persons recognized at various levels as part of the justice administration complex of the State.

Sources of Bauchi State Legal System include:

1. The Constitution of Nigeria (including its amendments and other laws it refers to expressly as having the same character as provisions contained within the formal Constitutional document;
2. Laws of the Federation of Nigeria;
3. Legislations of the National Assembly applicable to Bauchi State;
4. Legislations of the State House of Assembly;
5. Recognized customs of the people of Bauchi State;
6. Judicial precedents of courts with judicial authority over Bauchi State;
7. Local Government edicts

BAUCH STATE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

LEGAL SYSTEMS OF THE FEDERATING UNITS OF NIGERIA – 37 STATES/FCT