Arrangements of Sections
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act.
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
“Northern States” means the States of Nigeria formerly known as Northern Region of Nigeria.
3. Application of provisions of Schedule as Law of Northern States
(1) The provisions contained in the Schedule to this Act shall apply in respect of the
Northern States and shall be read as the law of that territory and as such form part of the Penal Code contained in the Schedule to the Penal Code Law, 1959, of the
Northern States (hereinafter referred to as the Penal Code of the Northern States).
[Schedule.]
(2) The provisions of Chapter I to Chapter VI of the Penal Code of the Northern
States, shall apply in respect of the provisions of the Schedule to this Act as fully as
though the provisions of such Chapters were enacted in this Act.
4. Punishment of offences in Schedule committed in Northern States.
Punishment of offences in Schedule committed in Northern States
Every person shall be liable to punishment under the provisions of section 3 of this
Act and of the Schedule to this Act for every act or omission contrary to the
provisions of the Schedule to this Act of which he is guilty within the Northern States:
Provided that a sentence of caning shall not be passed in accordance with section 77
of the Penal Code of the Northern States except in a case where a sentence of
whipping could have been passed in accordance with section 18 of the Criminal Code
or section 387 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
[Cap. C38. Cap. C41.]
5. Circumstances in which provisions of Schedule apply.
Circumstances in which provisions of Schedule apply
(1) Where by the provisions contained in the Schedule to this Act, the doing of any
act or the making of an omission is made an offence, those provisions shall apply to
every person who is in the territory at the time of his doing the act or making the
omission.
[Schedule.]
(2) Where any such offence comprises several elements and any acts, omissions or
events occur which, if they all occurred in the Northern States would constitute an
offence, and any of such acts, omissions or events occur in the Northern States,
although the other acts, omissions or events, which if they occurred in the Northern
States would be elements of the offence, occur elsewhere than in the Northern States
then—
(a) if the act or omission, which in the case of an offence committed
wholly in the Northern States would be the initial element of the offence, occurs in the Northern States, the person who does that act or makes that omission is guilty of an offence of the same kind and is liable to the same punishment as if all the subsequent elements of the offence occurred in the Northern State; and
(b) if that act or omission occurs elsewhere than in the Northern States and
the person who does that act or makes that omission afterwards enters the Northern
States, he is by such entry guilty of an offence of the same kind and is liable to the
same punishment, as if that act or omission had occurred in the Northern States and he had been in the Northern States when it occurred.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section it shall be a
defence to the charge in any such case to prove that the person accused did not intend that the act or omission should have effect in the Northern States.
(4) The provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall not extend to a case in which
the only material event that occurs in the Northern States is the death of a person
whose death is caused by an act or omission at a place outside, and at a time when
that person was outside, the Northern States.
