KATSINA STATE LEGAL SYSTEM AND PROFILE

Katsina State, with capital at Katsina, was created on 23 September, 1987 out of the old Kaduna State by the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida.

The State is located in the north western part of Nigeria between latitudes 11^o08^’N and 13^o22^’N and longitudes 6^o52^’E and 9^o20’E. It covers a land area of about 24,194km²   with Jigawa and Kano States to the east, Kaduna State to the south and Zamfara State to the west. It also shares an international boundary with Niger Republic to the north.

The population of the State according to the National Population Commission is 5,801,584- Male: 2,948,279; Female: 2,853,305. Katsina is blessed with a vast arable land which makes the State an important agricultural center producing crops like cotton, groundnut, millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, wheat and vegetables. It is also one of the few states in the country where crops are grown all the year round. Apart from farming during the rainy season, dry season farming is done along river banks and along the numerous dams built by the State and Federal Governments.

Katsina city, the capital, is a tourist attraction because of the wall that surrounds it with its seven different gates. The wall was built about 900 years ago during the reign of King Murabus. The Emir’s palaces in Katsina and Daura are also tourist attractions because of their unique architectural structure.

The Katsina Teacher’s College built in 1922 is the oldest institution of learning in the northern states. Its main attraction is the red-baked city mud with which it was built.Another important tourist attraction is the Gobarau Minaret built about 300 years ago. It was built of baked clay and mud and has been a thing of wonder to the inhabitants of the city. Legend has it that in those days, because of its height, it was used for surveillance purposes from where warriors could see enemies advancing on the ancient city.

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. 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 prescribes34 local 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 Katsina 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 Katsina 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 economic space applicable under the operations of the Laws;
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 Katsina 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 Katsina State;
4. Legislations of the State House of Assembly;
5. Recognized customs of the people of Katsina State;
6. Judicial precedents of courts with judicial authority over Katsina State;
7. Local Government edicts.

KATSINA STATE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

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