The Microbiology program started as a unit component of the programme of the defunct Department of Biological Sciences, which was set up in 1976 to award a single honours degree in Biology under the Faculty of Science. Later, the former Department of Biological Sciences was divided into three units, namely Microbiology, Botany and Zoology to award a B.Sc. degree in the various fields. The Microbiology Unit started awarding B.Sc. (Hons.) in 1981.  By 2005, Microbiology Unit became a full-fledged Department, when the former Department of Biological Sciences split into three autonomous Departments. By the same year, the Department of Microbiology was given a full accreditation by NUC till the year 2010. In 2012, the Department of Microbiology, along with three other Departments namely Biochemistry, Plant Biology and Zoology, was moved from Faculty of science to the newly established Faculty of Life Sciences. The following year, the excellent performance of the Department in various ramifications of teachings and research made it to achieve another round of full accreditation by the NUC which lasts until 2018.

The Department of Microbiology teaches and trains undergraduate and postgraduate students in various aspects of Microbiology.  These aspects include Food and Dairy Microbiology, Industrial Microbiology, Medical Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, Microbial Physiology and Pharmaceutical Microbiology.  The Department is equipped with highly qualified and experienced academic and non academic staff. More importantly, the academic staff members are involved in researches in various aspects of Microbiology.

GENERAL PHILOSOPHY, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

Programme’s Philosophy

The philosophy of the programme is to produce cultured graduates with trained minds in general while seeking to expose them to all facets of Microbiology with the purpose of self-realization and a sense of the need to contribute to National and international developments. 

Aim and Objectives

The aim is to train students to acquire academic excellence and competence in various aspects of Microbiology and to equip the students scientifically to adapt to new situation.

The objectives are:

(a)        Training of the students to develop confidence in appreciating and solving  problems in general;
(b)       Development of self confidence in the students in handling problems with minimal or no supervision;
(c)        Building of students’ capacity to fit into the appropriate level of manpower to which their qualification will allow them in various employment opportunities available to Microbiologists all over the world;
(d)       Production of Microbiologists that can be self employed and possibly employer of labour; and
(e)  Training the students to be able to ease into postgraduate training without difficulty.