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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.

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.

Jigawa enjoys a Tropical climate characterized by two main seasons – the rain season brought by the humid south westerly breezes from the far away Atlantic coast of West Africa (May to September); and the “harmatan” season of dry, dusty north easterly winds of the Sahara desert (from November to April).

Maximum temperatures (up to about 400C) are recorded between the months of March to September, whereas lower temperatures, especially at night time during the harmatan season, are sometimes as low as 11DC, characterize the period between October and February. There is a substantial daytime/ night time temperature variation during this period. Annual rainfall is between 600mm to 1,000mm with an average of about 650 mm over the last few years.

 

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.

 

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 dependant 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. 

The socio-cultural situation in Jigawa State could be described as homogeneous with Hausa/Fulani found in all parts of the State. 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.

Jigawa State - which was created out of old Kano State in August 1991 - is one of the 36 States in Federal Republic of Nigeria. As per 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 as 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.

The Economy of Jigawa State is largely characterized by informal sector activities with agriculture as the major economic activity. Over 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming and animal husbandry. Trade and commerce are undertaken on small and medium scale, especially in agric goods, livestock and other consumer goods. Other informal sector activities include blacksmithing, leather-works, tailoring services, auto repairs, metal works, carpentry, tanning, dyeing, food processing, masonry etc. Even though modern industrial sector is yet to gain a solid footing, the seed for their development was planted through establishment of small-scale industries particularly in areas of food processing and other agro-allied activities.

The Federal Office of Statistics, in 2001, classified Jigawa State among those with relatively high severity and incidence of poverty in the country, with a Gross Per Capita Income of N35, 000 per annum (US$290), which is below the National Average. However, the 2002 Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ) Survey indicated that over two-fifths of the population do not consider themselves poor.

 

The State of infrastructure for economic development such as roads, electricity, telecommunication and information technology have recently witnessed tremendous improvements through massive rehabilitation and expansion works. With massive road rehabilitation projects already undertaken throughout the State during the last five years, coupled with efforts made towards power generation via Independent Power Platforms, and the Internet Broadband Project, investment climate in Jigawa State in terms of economic infrastructure is quite promising.

 

The Government of Jigawa State generates its revenues from a number of sources. The two principal sources of revenue are Internal Revenue and Federal Transfers. The Federal Transfers consist of statutory allocation from the Federation Account and Value Added Tax (VAT). Other sources include grants from the Federal Government and other Agencies, and development loans from multilateral agencies such as African Development Bank (ADB) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). Statutory Allocations from Federation Account and proceeds from VAT constitute about 80% of total revenue of State Government.

On average, internal revenue constitutes less than 20% of budgetary resources of State Government. However, various measures have been instituted to improve internal revenue generation and enhance financial health of State Government. These include, but are not limited to, re-organization of revenue collection machinery; introduction of user charges and new revenue items; selective use of revenue consultants and upward revision of revenue rates. With a population of about 3.6 million and other natural endowments there is tremendous potential for internal revenue generation. It is the plan of State Government to fully exploit this potential. The objective is for the internally generated revenue to finance a significant proportion of Government’s recurrent expenditure.

Another body established by law to coordinate and monitor economic development policies is Economic Planning Board, established by Law No. 10 of 1999. The State Governor chairs the Board with the Deputy Governor; Chairmen of Local Government Councils; House Committee Chairpersons on Finance and Economic Development, Appropriation and Public Accounts; and some persons and professional bodies as deemed appropriate by the Board Chairman as members. Main functions of the Board include: -

While pursuing a balanced budget policy, Government operates the line item budgeting system. Due to escalating monthly worker’s salary bill, the balance between recurrent and capital expenditure has for some time been in favor of the former. However, this trend has been reversed in the last few years.

In recent years, efforts have been put to improve the State’s fiscal strategy. This was directly consequent to DFID supported Public Expenditure Management Reform Programme under which budgeting, accounting and reporting systems are being reformed for the better. 

The indebtedness of Government is low with much of it being long-term development loans. About US $8.456 million is owed to the Paris / London Clubs and the World Bank Multilateral Agencies (IBRD, IFAD and IDA). These loans were mostly used in the execution of agric / rural development programmes and water rehabilitation projects. In view of its low debt profile and ability to repay, Jigawa State Government has a high credit rating.

 

Government of Jigawa State relates very well with multilateral agencies in the country particularly the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, DFID and other international donor agencies and NGOs. Multilateral agencies have been a veritable source of development funds and technical assistance to State Government. Presently, the State partners with DFID, UNDP, UNICEF, IBRD, IFAD, ADF and some other International Development Agencies in pursuit of several development projects and programmes, particularly in the sphere of pro-poor growth, poverty reduction, education, and positive reform programmes such as Public Expenditure Management, Health Systems and Justice System Reforms.