TARABA STATE LEGAL SYSTEM AND PROFILE

Taraba State, with capital at Jalingo, was created along with eight other States by the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida on 27 August, 1991. Until then, it was with Adamawa State, part of the defunct Gongola State. The name “Taraba” was derived from the River Taraba which passes through southern part of the State.

Taraba State is located in the north-eastern part of Nigeria with its total land mass of about 54,473km²lying between latitudes 6^o25^’N and 9^o30^’N and longitudes 9^o30^’E and 11^o45^’E. It’s neighbor to the west are Gombe and Plateau States, Adamawa and Benue States encircle its northeastern and southwestern borders the eastern wing is an international border shared with the Republic of Cameroun.

The population of Taraba State according to the National Population Commission of Nigeria is 2,294,800- Male: 1,171,931; Female: 1,122,869. Agriculture is the highest employer of labor in the State with over 80 percent of the population engaged in it. The sector is sustained by the availability of rich fertile farmlands and favorable climatic conditions. Cash crops produced in the State include coffee, groundnuts, tea, and cotton. Crops such as oil palm, maize, coconut, citrus fruit, beans, rice, millet, yam, sorghum and cassava are also produced in commercial quantities. In addition, cattle, goats, and sheep are reared in large numbers.

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 16 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 Taraba 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 Taraba 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 recognized customs of the market space 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; and
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 Taraba 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 Taraba State;
4. Legislations of the State House of Assembly;
5. Recognized customs of the people of Taraba State;
6. Judicial precedents of courts with judicial authority over Taraba State;
7. Local Government edicts.

TARABA STATE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

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