Bayelsa State of Nigeria Government, Nigerian Culture, People, Economic Development

Jigawa State

Jigawa State of Nigeria

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Jigawa State State nickname: The New World
Location

Statistics

Date Created	27 August 1991
Capital	Dutse
Area	23,154 km² Ranked 18th
Population 1991 Census 2005 est.	Ranked 8th 2,829,929 4,988,888

Jigawa State is a state in central northern Nigeria. Its capital is Dutse.

Contents

[hide]

§ 1 Location

§ 6 Local Government Areas

§ 7 Political Economy

§ 8 Relation with Multilateral Agencies

§ 9 External links

[edit] Location

Jigawa State is one of thirty-six States that constitute Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is situated in north-western part of the country between Latitudes 11.00oN to 13.00oN and Longitudes 8.00oE to 10.15oE. Kano and Katsina States border Jigawa to the west, Bauchi State to the east and Yobe State to the northeast. To the north, Jigawa shares an international border with Republic of Niger, which is a unique opportunity for cross-border trading activities. Government readily took advantage of this by initiating and establishing a Free-Trade Zone at the Border town of Maigatari.

[edit] Topography

The State has a total land area of approximately 22,410 square kilometres. Its topography is generally characterized by undulating land, with sand dunes of various sizes spanning several kilometres in parts of the State. The southern part of Jigawa comprises the Basement Complex while the northeast is made up of sedimentary rocks of the Chad Formation. The main rivers are Hadejia, Kafin Hausa and Iggi Rivers with a number of tributaries feeding extensive marshlands in north-eastern part of the State. Hadejia – Kafin Hausa River traverses the State from west to east through the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands and empties into Lake Chad Basin.

[edit] Vegetation

Most parts of the State lie within the Sudan Savannah with elements of Guinea Savannah in the southern part. Total forest cover in the State is very much below national average of 14.8%[1]. Due to both natural and human factors, forest cover is being depleted, making northern part of the State highly vulnerable to desert encroachment. The State enjoys vast fertile arable land to which almost all tropical crops could adapt, thus constituting one of its highly prized natural resources. The Sudan Savannah vegetation zone is also made up of vast grazing lands suitable for livestock production.

[edit] Population

The socio-cultural situation in Jigawa State could be described as homogeneous: it is mostly populated by Hausa/Fulani, who could be found in all parts of the State. [1] Kanuri are largely found in Hadejia Emirate, with some traces of Badawa mainly in its Northeastern parts. Even though each of the three dominant tribes have continued to maintain its ethnic identity, Islam and a long history of inter-marriages have continued to bind them together.

About 3.6 million people inhabit Jigawa State. Life expectancy as at 2001 was about 52 years with a total fertility rate of about 6.2 children per woman of childbearing age (a little above the national average). Although population of the State is predominantly rural (90%), the distribution in terms of sex is almost equal between male (50.8%) and female (49.2%). This pattern of population distribution is same across various constituencies in the State and between urban and rural areas. In terms of age distribution, the 2002 CWIQ Survey indicates that 45.2% of the population was made up of young people below the age of 15; 49.0% between the ages of 15 and 59 while 5.8% were people aged 60 and above. This survey reveals a dependency ratio of almost 1; meaning that there is almost one dependent to every economically active person in the population.

Average household size was about 6.7 almost all of which were headed by males. About 60% of household heads were self-employed with agriculture as their main occupation, and nearly two-thirds of these households were monogamous families. The overall literacy rate was about 37% in 2002 (22 percent for women and 51 percent for men). School enrolment ratio is fairly high with very good improvements in the last few years, even though there is still clear disparity between boys and girls.

Basic indicators for water supply sector show that access to potable water is over 90%, which is among the highest in the country. The 2002 CWIQ Survey however, indicated that while access to high quality safe drinking water (pipe born, hand pump boreholes and protected wells) is low at about 63%, nearly two-thirds of households have good means of sanitation. In terms of heath services, about two-fifths of the population have access to medical services which is, however, higher in urban areas where access was found to be about 55%. The CWIQ Survey found that an average of 70% of those who consulted a heath facility expressed satisfaction with the services provided.

[edit] Government

Jigawa State—created out of the old Kano State in August 1991—is one of the 36 States in Federal Republic of Nigeria. By the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, the state comprises 27 Local Government Councils, which are divided into 30 State Constituencies, grouped into 11 Federal Constituencies and 3 Senatorial Districts. These 27 Local Government Councils were further subdivided into 77 Development Areas per law No. 5 of 2004 of the State House of Assembly. In line with the democratic setting in the country, the governments at both the State and Local Government levels are elected, and comprise an Executive with a unicameral legislature. The State legislature has 30 elected members each representing one of the State Constituencies. To complete the State governance structure, there is an independent State Judiciary as the third arm of Government.

The State Government administrative apparatus is organized into Ministries, Extra-ministerial Departments and Parastatals, which are located across the three Senatorial districts in the State since 1999. This decentralized approach in Government’s administrative structure was seen as a move towards stimulating economic activities socio-economic development and empowerment over a wider area since government is the largest employer, perhaps second only to agriculture. In addition, this was also seen as a way for spreading even development among major urban centers and a shift from “city-state syndrome” that obtained in the old Kano State.

[edit] Local Government Areas

The 27 LGAs of Jigawa State are:

1. Auyo

2. Babura

3. Biriniwa

4. Birnin-Kudu

5. Buji

6. Dutse

7. Gagarawa

8. Garki

9. Gumel

10. Guri