The Department of Chemistry started in 1944 and is one of the oldest departments of the College of Natural Sciences. Currently, the department is housed in two buildings of impressive architecture with many facilities for teaching and research. There is a proposal for constructing a third building in order to meet the needs of the increasing student numbers and academic staff expansion.
There are three first degree programmes offered by the department: (1) The BSc Chemistry Major programme, (2) the BSc Chemistry Minor Programme, and (3) BSc in Industrial Chemistry Programme. Details of each of these programmes can be found here. In addition, the department also serves students of BSc (Educ) from the College of Education and Extension Studies, BSc in Petroleum Geosciences & Production and BSc in Ethno-botany.
Graduate Degree and Research Studies are an integral part of the activities of the Department. Both MSc and PhD degree programmes are offered. The MSc programme is constituted by one year of lectures followed by end of semester examinations, and another year of research ended by submission of a thesis in any one of the five branches: analytical, industrial, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry. The PhD programme is currently by research and thesis only.
Over the years, the Department has done a lot of chemical research, both pure and applied. The results of many of these research endeavours have been published in international journals.
One may ask, ‘Why study Chemistry?’ First of all, Chemistry is a very exciting branch of science. Basically it is about knowing and investigating the structure and reactions of substances of matter. It is a central science bridging many aspects of other sciences, physical and biological, opening a door to many technological developments.
Chemistry graduates have many more career opportunities than graduates of other degrees.

Staffing
The Department is a vibrant unit consisting of 44 academic and technical staffs that support on average 25 graduate students, 4 postdoctoral and research associates, 300 chemistry undergraduates and several minors who take our classes annually.  The Department produces on average 5 PhD, 15 MSc, and over 100 BSc/BSc Education or Industrial Chemistry graduates annually.   Our staff members are nationally and international recognized. In addition, they have several international collaborations that put them in position to solicit for external research grants.