History

The Faculty of Science is located within the core of the Main Campus, Samaru. It was established at the founding of the Ahmadu Bello University in 1962. The Faculty started with six departments and has grown over the past fifty-three years into not only one of the largest faculties in the University with nine degree awarding departments, but also one of the largest faculties of science in any Nigerian University.

The foundation Departments were Botany, Chemistry, Geography, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology. The Departments of Botany and Zoology were later merged into the Department of Biological Sciences. The Departments of Geology and Microbiology were created in 1969 followed by Biochemistry in 1975 and Textile Science and Technology in 1980.

It is of interest to note that the present Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as the Department of Chemical Engineering were conceived and nurtured in the Faculty of Science. The Centre for Energy Research and Training and the Institute of Computing & ICT were also formerly part of the Faculty of Science.

The Faculty has grown tremendously over the years and now has staff strength of 489 academic staff which includes over 60 fully fledged professors.

The Faculty offers four-year degree courses leading to a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in single subjects in all departments of the faculty except for the Department of Textile Science and Technology, which offers a 5-year degree programme. The Faculty also offers postgraduate diploma courses in some of its departments. Some courses in the Faculty are also combined with Education for a B.Sc. (Education) degree or a B.Ed. (Science Education) degree. The Faculty offers postgraduate programmes up to Ph.D. level in all its nine departments. The Faculty turned out its first set of graduates in 1965 and has since produced high quality graduates at first and higher degrees who have been making their contributions to various sectors of the Nigerian economy and to the international community at large.

Some of the courses in the Faculty especially at the 100 level are also given as part of the degree programmes in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Agriculture, Environmental Design, Education and some other Faculties.