ONDO STATE LEGAL SYSTEM AND PROFILE

Ondo State, with capital at Akure, was created on 3 February, 1976 from the old Western State. The State took off formally on 1 April, 1976 with nine administrative divisions of the defunct Western State.

Ondo State is located in the south western region of the country. It lies between latitudes 5^o45^’ and 7^o52^’N and longitudes 4^o20^’ and 6^o05^’E. Its land area is about 15,500km².

Ondo State shares its borders with Ogun and Osun States to the west, to the east with Edo and Delta States, Ekiti and Kogi States lies on its northern ends while the Bight of Benin and the Atlantic Ocean completes its southern borders. The population of the State according to the National population Commission is 3,460,877- Male: 1,745,057; Female: 1,715,820.

Agriculture is the dominant occupation of the people of Ondo State providing income and employment opportunities for over seventy percent of its population. It also contributes well over seventy-five percent to the State’s Gross Domestic Product. Major crops produced in the State in commercial quantity include palm produce, cocoa, timber and palm produce. Importantly, Ondo State accounts for over sixty percent of Nigeria’s annual cocoa output.

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 prescribes 18 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 Ondo State legal system comprises;

2. The compendium of Constitution provisions applicable to the State as one of the 36 States that constitute the Nigerian Federation;
3. Laws made by the Federal Legislature applicable throughout the entire federation or specifically to Ondo State;
4. Laws made (or deemed to have been made), by the State’s legislature;
5. Laws made by Local Government Councils in the State;
6. Customary laws or other customs of the market place applicable under the operation of Law;
7. 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;
8. 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;
9. 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 Ondo 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 Ondo State;
4. Legislations of the State House of Assembly;
5. Recognized customs of the people of Ondo State;
6. Judicial precedents of courts with judicial authority over Ondo State;
7. Local Government edicts.

ONDO STATE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

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