JIGAWA STATE LEGAL SYSTEM AND PROFILE

Jigawa State, with capital at Dutse, was created in Tuesday 27 August 1991 under the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida out of the former Kano State.

The State lies between latitudes 11^oN to 13^oN and longitudes 8^oE and 10^o35^lE and covers a total land area of about 23, 154km². The State border to the west is enclosed by Kano State, to the east are Bauchi and Yobe States, on the north, Katsina and Yobe States while an international boundary with the Republic of Niger renders the State a landlocked entity.

The population of Jigawa, according to a recent estimate by the National Population Commission, is 4,361,002- Male: 2,198,076; Female: 2,162,926. The State’s most important natural endowment is its vast and fertile arable land to which most crops could adapt to. The result is that informal sector activities, largely in the form of subsistence farming and animal husbandry form the economic bulwark of the State. It also harbours a large swathe of the Sudan Savannah vegetation zone which is suitable for livestock production.

The State administration is under the executive governor currently occupied Sule Lamido. The Jigawa State house assembly consists of 30 members. The State is divided into 27 local government areas for easy administration.

Currently, the State 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. of 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 27 local Local Government Areas for the State; and

The Jigawa 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 Jigawa 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 the 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 Law for the Jigawa 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 Jigawa State;
4. Legislations of the State House of Assembly;
5. Recognized customs of the people of Jigawa State;
6. Judicial precedents of courts with judicial authority over Jigawa State;
7. Local Government edicts.

JIGAWA STATE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

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