Historical Development: The area called Delta State was once an integral part of the old Western Region of Nigeria. It became an autonomous entity on August 27, 1991 after having been part of the old Midwestern State (1963 1976) and the defunct Bendel State (1976 1991).

Warri Refinery

Delta State started with twelve local government areas. These were split further into nineteen local governments on September 27, 1991, and to twentyfive LGAs in 1997. Asaba, located at the northern end of the state, is the capital. A master plan for Asaba Capital Territory, with an estimated area of 762 sq. km and designed to transform Asaba into a modern metrop olis, is being pursued by the state government.

Location: Delta State lies roughly between longitudes 5°00 and 6°45'E and latitudes 5°00 and 6°30'N. It has a total land area of 16,842 sq. km. The states bordering Delta State are Edo to the north, Ondo to the northwest, Anambra to the east and Bayelsa and Rivers to the southeast. On its southern flank is 160 km of the coastline of the Bight of Benin.

Administrative Areas: Delta State currently has twentyfive local government areas. They are: Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Bomadi, Burutu, Ethiope East, Ethiope West, lka NorthEast, lka South, Isoko North, Isoko South, Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West Okpe, Oshimili North Oshimili South, Patani, Sapele, Udu, Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Ukwani, Uvwie, Warri North, Warri South and Warri SouthWest.

Administrative Structure: Delta State runs a twotier system of government namely; the state government and the local government administration.

The State Government: There are three arms of government which include the executive council, the legislature and the judiciary. The executive council comprises the Governor, Deputy Governor, seven commissioners, special advisers and the secretary to the state government. The commissioners head the ministries while the directorates and parastatals are organs in the office of the governor and deputy governor, respectively.

Chief Nana's Palace, Koko

The special advisers are assigned responsibilities usually in the following areas: information, paras tatals, education, health, commerce and industry. The Delta State House of Assembly is the leg islative or lawmaking arm of the government. Currently, the membership of the State House of Assembly is fifty.

The Chief Judge of the state heads the state's judiciary. The judiciary is organised around a sys tem of courts, which are of three different kinds namely the High Court, the Magistrates' Court and the Customary Court. There is also a Customary Court of Appeal to hear appeal cases from the Customary Courts.

The Local Government: The second tier of government, is the local government administration. It consists of two arms of government in each of the local government administration. The first, the executive committee comprises the chairman of the local government, the deputy chairman, supervisors and secretary to the local government. The second, the legislative council is the lawmaking arm of the local government. The principal officers of the legislative council are; the speaker, deputy speaker, majority and minority leaders.