Benue State University, Makurdi

HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of Political Science was established in 1992 as one of the pioneer Departments in the University. Some Public Administration course units have since then been taught as a sub-discipline of Political Science. In order to expand the study of Public Administration, the University also established two non-degree programmes, namely the Advanced Diploma in Public Administration (ADPM) and the Diploma in Personnel Management (DPM). These have helped to train the Junior and Senior level cadre in the public and private services in addition to preparing candidates for admission into higher programmes.

In the 1999/2000 session, the Department started postgraduate programmes with the Master in Public Administration (MPA) and the Master of Science (M.Sc) in Public Administration as some of the options for students. Later in the 2001/2002 session, the Department mounted a PhD programme in Political Science also with an option for students to specialize in the area of Public Administration though the degree reads PhD Political Science.

The degree programmes offered by the Department especially those in Public Administration have been very well received just as they have become very popular with the University’s growing clientele over the years. Many students who have received training at various levels have continued to make contributions to the development not only of their immediate environments but the Nation at large.

The wide acceptance of the Public Administration programmes, the availability of Faculty as well as other resources informed the decision of the University Council to direct that a First Degree programme be started in Public Administration. Thus the design of this programme which would initially be mounted in the Department of Political Science as a sub-Department beginning from the 2013/2014 academic session.

The Department of Political expresses it gratitude to the University Council for its initiative; the Vice Chancellor, Prof.(Mrs.) Charity Ashimem Angya  for providing the resources for the commencement of this programme and the University Senate for its  support and approval for the establishment of the programme which would go a long way in providing additional opportunities to our growing clientele to acquire University education  in addition to fulfilling  the University’ mandate which is that of creating knowledge and developing the complete person who would respond to the environment and set the agenda for change and development.

What follows in this Handbook is a brief description of the Bachelors degree programme as well as the Postgraduate programmes in Public Administration offered in the Department. It also contains the Admission and course requirements, the staff list as well as such other general information that will be useful to students in the University.

Staff List