Rt. Hon. Aliyu Sabi'u Muduru 

History of Katsina State.

     Katsina,  historic kingdom and emirate in northern Nigeria. According to tradition, the kingdom, one of the Hausa Bakwai (“Seven True Hausa States”), was founded in the 10th or 11th century. Islām was introduced in the 1450s, and Muhammad Korau (reigned late 15th century) was Katsina’s first Muslim king. During his reign camel caravans crossed the Sahara from Ghudāmis (Ghadames), Tripoli, and Tunis southward to Katsina and brought such prosperity to the state that it became caught in the rivalry between the great West African empires of Songhai (Gao) and Bornu. In 1513 Katsina was conquered by the Songhai.

    The original walls around Katsina town, the kingdom’s capital, were built in the mid-16th century. In 1554 Katsina defeated the forces of Songhai and, in 1570, those of Kano, its principal rival in the trans-Saharan trade. After Moroccan armies had vanquished Songhai in 1591, Katsina was (until the end of the 18th century) a tributary state of Bornu. Katsina entered its greatest period of prosperity in the early 18th century. Besides being the leading Hausa commercial state, it replaced Timbuktu (Tombouctou) as the chief West African centre of Islāmic studies. Later in the century, wars with Gobir, a Hausa state to the northwest, marked the beginning of Katsina’s decline.

   Fulani herdsmen settled in Katsina by the 15th century, and in 1804 the Fulani jihad (holy war) leader, Usman dan Fodio, led a revolt (beginning in Gobir) against the Hausa overlords. The Fulani leader Umaru Dallaji captured Katsina town in 1806 and was named the first Katsina emir with Katsina as his seat. The emirate was governed by the representative of the sultan of Sokoto (a town 160 miles [258 km] west) as well as the local emir. Many of the Hausa nobility and people fled to Dankama (25 miles [40 km] northeast) and to Tassawa (Tessaoua) and Maradi in Niger, where they proclaimed a Hausa Katsina chiefdom. Their raids throughout the 19th century weakened the Fulani emir and Katsina town (which was surpassed by Kano).

    In 1903 Katsina’s emir pledged allegiance to the British rulers of Northern Nigeria. When the British and French set the present Niger-Nigeria boundary in 1904, Katsina emirate was reduced in size and made a part of Kano province. Much of its former territory is now in Katsina state.

Location & Governmental Establishments of the State

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       Katsina is an old city of Northern Nigeria 160 miles East of the city of Sokoto, and 84 m. N.W. of Kano, close to the border with Niger. Latitude 13 N., Long. 7.41'E. Katsina lies on the river of the same name, which is a tributary of the River Benue. Katsina is capital of Katsina State and the centre of an agricultural region producing groundnuts, cotton, hides, millet and guinea corn. Surrounded by city walls 13 miles (21 km) in length, Katsina is believed to have been founded circa 1500. In pre-Islamic times Katsina's semi-divine ruler was known as the Sarki, who faced a summary death-sentence if found to be ruling incompetently. From the 17th to the 18th century, Katsina was the commercial heart of hausaland and became the largest of the seven Hausa city-states. Katsina was conquered by the Fulani in 1807, becoming subsidiary to nearby Kano. In 1903 the Emir accepted British rule.

        Katsina State (State, North-Central Nigeria). The State was carved out of the old Kaduna State in September 1989. It is bounded in the north by Niger Republic, in the east by Kano State, in the south by Kaduna State and by Sokoto State in the west. The state is made up of two emirates which feature prominently in the establishment of the seven Hausa Kingdoms. The lineage between Bayajida and Daurama produced the founders of Daura, Katsina, Zaria, Kano, Rano Gobir and Biram. The legendary Kusugu well where the snake called Sarki was slain is one of the tourist attractions of Daura. Katsina was founded by Kumayo and before the Fulani conquest had been an important seat of learning and a commercial centre of the trans-Saharan Trade. It provided one of the earliest education centres of the north. Katsina consists largely of scrub vegetation with some wooded savanna in the south. There are 34 local government areas in the state namely as shown on the right hand side. The indigenes are Hausa and Fulani with pockets of other ethnic groups such as the Ibos and Yorubas.
 
       The state government in its bid to provide effective and comprehensive health care services for all and sundry expanded and upgraded all existing health centres. Rural health centres in Bakori and Faskari have been converted into General Hospitals. The Government also constructed the Katsina Specialist Hospital in its-effort to provide special health care services. There is a children's hospital located at Malumfashi.
 
        Katsina State Government attaches a lot of importance to education. Scholarships are awarded to deserving indigenes to study relevant courses in institutions of higher learning at home and abroad. In the field of special education, adequate plans have been made to provide each Local Government with special schools for the blind. The state has also established an Education Resource Centre with Headquarters at Dutsin-Ma. The Centre has the responsibility of inspecting schools, designing and developing curriculum and ensuring effective supervision of teaching in schoolsThe state's industrial policy objectives include improving living standard, provision of regular employment,       balanced industrial growth through establishment of industries in rural areas....

Historical & Governemental Structure of The State.

     Historical Development: Katsina was one of the prejihad hausa city states which was conquered and annexed into the Sokoto caliphate by Mallam Urnmarun Dallaji in the early part of the 19th Century. After the British colonial conquest in 1903, the erstwhile Katsina and Daura emirates became Katsina Province of the former Northern region of Nigeria. Later, Katsina and Zaria Provinces together formed the North Central State under the Gowon regime's twelvestate structure.

North Central State was left intact in 1976 when the number of states were increased to nineteen under the new name of Kaduna State. Katsina State came into existence on the 23rd of September, 1987 covering the same area of the former Katsina Province of the defunct Northern Region. Its creation along with Akwa lbom State, raised the number of states from nineteen to twen tyone under the then Babangida military administration. Thence forth, the agitation for the creation of Katsina State, which dated back to over a decade under an umbrella organisation called the Movement for the Creation of Katsina State, came to rest. (Udo and Mamman, 1993).

     Administrative Structure: Three tiers of gov ernment exist in the state namely; executive, legislature and judiciary. The executive arm is administered through the State Executive council which is headed by the governor.

The current Governor being AlhajiAminu Bello Masari ,democratically elected under the platform of the All Progresive Congress (APC). Other members of the Executive Council include the Commissioners (who head ministries); various parastatals are either under the office of the gover nor, or other related ministries.

The legislature is headed by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly.The Current Speaker - RT.Hon Aliyu Sabi'u Muduru also democratically elected under the platform of the All Progresive Congress (APC) , his deputy, chief whip, majority and minority leaders; a registrar of the house serves as the Secretary and head of the non legislative officers. The judiciary is headed by the Chief Judge.

     Local Government Structures: Each local government has two tiers; the executive and the leaislature. The executive wind is headed by the Chairman, others include the officers heading various departments and a secretary. The legislative arm is made up of the Speaker, his deputy and eight councillors.

     Indigenous Structure: This is headed by the Katsina and Daura Emirate Councils which are headed by the Emirs. Each emirate is subdivided into districts, which are headed by district heads (hakirnai). Each district is also made up of villages headed by village heads (or dagatai). Further, towns wards and hamlets are headed by the Masu anguwa or ward/hamlet heads.