- Department of Zoology @Faculty of Life Sciences
Welcome to Department of Biology, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. A single Department with a pluralistic nature. An abode of life at all levels, cellular, Microbial and microbial. She synthesizes various aspects of life viz; mycology, virology, phycology, entomology, parasitology, immunology, epidiomology, evolution, ecology, conservation, molecular biology, genetics, cytosystematics, radiation biology, fisheries and food science, without being cataclasmic. She stretches herself in services to other sister Departments that deal with life in all its ramifications; a template for impressing the basic tenets of biology.
Departmet of Biology awards Bachelor of Sciences (B.Sc.) degree in Biology, Botany and Zoology. Little wonder, the products of this great Department serve in various capacities cutting across several organizations, academic and research institutions, ministries and parastatals, still the noblest of them forge ahead to pass on the baton in the training process as lecturers cum researchers within their ALMA MATTER. We duff our hats and dub thee, the “heart-beat” of life science
We aim to create an enabling environment where students thrive and gain comprehensive education and broadened scientific knowledge in order to equip them with skills that will benefit them in their future and professional ambitions.
Founded in 1962 at the establishment of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, When the University started in 1962, the degree programme offered by the department was in the form of a three-year combined Honours degree programmes with each candidate taking three suitable subjects in the first year and two main subjects plus a subsidiary subject in the second and third years. One such combined degree structure was as follows:
The main subject combinations were Bot/Zoo., Bot/Chem., Zoo/Chem, Bio/Geog and the subsidiary was the third subject offered in the 1st year and/or one closely related to it. A Biology/Education combination was also offered in the late 60s in conjunction with the Faculty of Education. The rationale for the combined honours broad-based degree programme of the department was to produce graduates that would be very useful to society, especially as science teachers in secondary and lower tertiary institutions. The combined honours programme was run for the first and second batches of graduates (1965 and 1966). However, due to pressure from the students and a review of the university’s policies, single Honours degree programmes (in the areas of Botany and Zoology) were started in 1967. The Biology single Honours programme was introduced later.
Since inception the fundamental philosophy and objective of the three single Honours degree programmes has been the provision of broad-based training as against extreme specialization. Thus, prior to the introduction of the 4-year degree programme, all students irrespective of whether they were reading Botany, Biology and Zoology, had to take the same courses in Parts I and II of the then 3-year programmes. Only in the final year were any specialist options allowed. This policy has been maintained in the current 4-year degree programme where all students irrespective of their degree option take the same courses in the first and second years of study (i.e., 100-Level and 200-Level).
It is important to mention that the Department of Biology is one of the two science-based departments in the university that run three undergraduate degree programmes (namely, B.Sc. Biology, B.Sc. Botany, and B.Sc. Zoology). The department also offers service courses to the Faculties of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy, Agriculture, Education, and some other departments of the Faculty of Science. Furthermore, the science component of the B.Ed. and B.Sc. (Education Biology) programmes of the Faculty of Education depend mainly on courses offered by the Department for the science component of those programmes.
The B.Sc. Biology degree programme of the department received full accreditation in the 2006 Accreditation Exercise.
The Department is a beehive of scientific activities where an exceptional group of scientists who not only rise to the top in their fields and create technologies that make a difference in Nigeria and beyond, but are dedicated to both postgraduate and undergraduate education. Their dedication is evident in their creative and innovative teaching methods and devotion to postgraduate and undergraduate students’ research and mentoring. We are committed to helping our student gain excellent training that includes a strong foundation in the basic sciences and the freedom to shape their own degree paths.
We also give our students both qualitative and quantitative background that enables them to tackle problems and provide the foundation for lifelong achievements. Our graduates are sought after by other institutions and top companies in the country and internationally. Our academic staff constantly receive prestigious fellowships and awards, and this success is not short lived. Our alumni are also making their marks within and outside Nigeria in their various fields of specialization.
We have linkages across the departments which our staff and students can benefit from in realizing advances in research.
On behalf of the entire members of the Faculty of Science, we wish you well in your academic pursuit. I hope you will explore our website to gain additional insight into the various programmes we offer
To establish and nurture a department that provides excellent teaching, research and consultancy services in the field of Botany, for the enhancement of local, national and global ecologic-economic wellbeing of humans.
To be a focused, proactive, dynamic, upward-bound and foremost centre for teaching and research in the science of Botany ; producing well nurtured graduates that will be in a position to contribute to the advancement of botanical knowledge at local, national and global levels.
In pursuit of the broad goal of producing self-reliant young biological scientists and contributing to scientific knowledge, the following is the specific academic objectives of the undergraduate degree programme of the department.
To nuture potential researchers and academics of high quality in the area of animal biology with emphasis in systematics and other specialized areas of zoology e.g Neuroendocrinology, Entomology, Parasitology, Ichthyology and Fisheries & Aquaculture, and Biodiversity/Wildlife Conservation.
The philosophy behind the B.Sc. Biology programme is to produce graduates with a broad-based degree, a good working knowledge in other areas of pure and applied sciences, which will be very useful to society.
It will also endow the products of the B.Sc. Biology programme with the ability to make valuable contributions to contemporary biological issues of national and international interest.
This strategy will broaden the employment opportunities of our graduates as they will be better prepared after training to establish as private entrepreneurs, or take up employment in various organizations.
The specific academic objectives of the B.Sc. Biology degree programme are to:
The main philosophy behind the Bsc Botany programme to contribute to meeting the general educational objectives of Ahmadu Bello University and the Nigerian Nation, which include the acquisition and spread of knowledge, and the promotion of research and education, (with emphasis on Botany as an important component of the Biological Sciences). The programme is designed not only to satisfy the intellectual demands of the students but also to facilitate their acquisition of basic and specialist science skills that instill qualities of self-confidence and self reliance, so that the products of the degree programme can play active and informed roles in personal, community, national and international development strategies.
Since a broad and interdisciplinary orientation can hardly go with extreme specialization, the programme is designed to discourage over-specialization by allowing for sufficient choice of electives within and outside each programme. The recommended electives for each programme have therefore been deliberately chosen to ensure relevance not only to academic content of each programme, but also to endow the products of the programmes with the knowledge that will enable them make valuable contributions to contemporary biological issues of national and international interest.
The main philosophy of the B Sc. Zoology programme is to contribute to meeting the general educational objectives of Ahmadu Bello University and the Nigerian Nation, which include the acquisition and spread of knowledge, and the promotion of research and education, (with emphasis on Zoology as an important component of the Biological Sciences). The programme is designed not only to satisfy the intellectual demands of the students but also to facilitate their acquisition of basic and specialist science skills that instill qualities of self-confidence and self reliance, so that the products of the degree programmes can play active and informed roles in personal, community, national and international development strategies.
Since a broad and interdisciplinary orientation can hardly go with extreme specialization, the programme is designed to discourage over-specialization by allowing for sufficient choice of electives within and outside each programme. The recommended electives for the programme have therefore been deliberately chosen to ensure relevance not only to academic content of each programme, but also to endow the products of the programme with the knowledge that will enable them make valuable contributions to contemporary biological issues of national and international interest.
This strategy has broadened the employment opportunities of our graduates as they are better prepared after training to establish as private entrepreneurs, or take up employment in Parks and nature reserves as conservationists; in Research Institutes as trainee scientists; in tertiary institutions as research scientists and teachers, and in Government Ministries as technocrats. These are in addition to their general availability as Science Teachers in secondary schools.
In pursuit of the general objective of producing these self reliant young biological scientists and contributing to scientific knowledge, the following are the specific academic objectives of the B.Sc. Zoology degree programme: