About Us

History

Department of Plant Biology, formerly known as Botany Unit was one of the three units of the former Department of Biological Sciences. The change of name from “Botany” to “Plant Biology” was consistent with the current trends in Nigeria and the world over where modern names are used to replace old ones.  More so, the name Plant Biology is more explicit and self-explanatory than Botany. The Department of Biological Sciences was one the foundation Departments of the University of Ilorin.  Courses leading to a degree of Bachelor of Science in Biology were thus offered to foundation students of the Faculty of Sciences who so desired and were qualified.  Simultaneous with the development of Undergraduate programmes, the Department also offered graduate courses.  Historically, therefore, the first graduates of this University were two recipients of the M.Sc. degree in Plant Physiology and Plant Pathology, from the Department of Biological Sciences in 1978.

By 1978, it became obvious that the degree structure (B.Sc. Biology) of the Department of Biological Sciences offered serious constraints to curriculum development in addition to placing graduates of the Department at an unwarranted disadvantage in the employment market.  The Department, therefore, proposed three additional degrees and obtained approval for academic programmes leading to the award of B.Sc. degree in Botany (now Plant Biology), B.Sc. degree in Microbiology and B.Sc. degree in Zoology.  The first set of students under this new programme graduated in 1981.  Given the present curriculum, the change in degree structure was therefore a question of progressive evolution of the Department.  This is compatible with the general philosophy of the Department of producing graduates with a clear understanding of Biological principles and a reasonable degree of specialization that may be expected at this level.

The Botany Unit of the then Department of Biological Sciences became an autonomous Department of Plant Biology in 2005 in the Faculty of Science. The Department of Plant Biology services students from College of Medicine, Faculties of Agriculture, Education, Computer and Information Technology, Environmental Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physical Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine, and the Institute of Education (IOE).

The curricula of the Department cover all the areas of specialization: Anatomy, Ecology,  Physiology and Biochemistry, Taxonomy, Applied Genetics and Plant Breeding, Biotechnology, Cytogenetics, Plant Pathology, Lower Plants, Environmental Biology, and Ethnomedicine. Hence, graduates of the Department are equipped with requisite knowledge in Plant Biology.

By 2013/2014 academic session, two Faculties were created from the erstwhile Faculty of Science (namely Faculty of Life Sciences and Physical Sciences) which is one of the foundation Faculties of the University. The Faculty started with four Departments namely Biochemistry, Microbiology, Plant Biology and Zoology. Later on 30^th April, 2014, the Department of Optometry and Vision Science was the fifth Department to the Faculty.  

The Department of Plant Biology is headed by a Head of Department appointed by the Vice-Chancellor among the most senior academic members of the Department. The Department is run through several Departmental Committees which are advisory to the Head of Department.  All members of staff are members of at least one Committee.

Past Heads of the Department

Since its inception in 2004, the Department has produced 7 Heads of Department to date. Below is a summary of the names and the tenure duration of the HODs:

S/N	HEAD OF DEPARTMENT	DURATION
		FROM	TO
1	DR. J. E. AMADI	2004	2006
2	DR. O. T. MUSTAPHA	2006	2008
3	DR. P. O. FATOBA	2008	2010
4	DR. O. T. MUSTAPHA	2010	2013
5	DR. A. A. ABDULRAHAMAN	2013	2015
6	DR. K. S. OLORUNMAIYE	2015	2017
7	PROF. A. A. ABDULRAHAMAN	2017	2021
8	PRO. K. S. OLORUNMAIYE	2021	2024`
9	DR. B.U. OLAYINKA	2024	DATE