DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY IN BRIEF

The Department of Sociology was one of the foundation departments established by the University in 1976. Teaching commenced in October 1977 with an initial number of five academic staff and twelve students. Despite the brain drain and the relatively high rate of staff turnover, the staff strength of the Department has remained at an average of 12 over the years. Staff composition in terms of areas of specialization, teaching and research interest is diverse. This diversity enables the Department to have a wide range of national and international sociological experiences drawn from Jos, Kano, Zaria, Lagos, Ibadan, Ife, Sokoto, South Africa, Britain, the United States, Malaysia, as well as Japan. Many members of staff have distinguished themselves nationally and internationally through their research, publications and membership in professional associations. Currently, the Department has 4 Professors, 3 Readers, 8 Senior Lecturers (3 Adjunct), 7 Lecturers I, 2 Lecturers II,  making a total number of 24 staff.

The first set of students – 12 – graduated in 1980. Since then, the number of graduates from the department has multiplied several-fold, and today, it has about 800 core sociology students. This is apart from the hundreds of students from other departments and faculties taking sociology courses from levels 1-3

The Philosophy of the Programme remains close to the very humanistic concerns that played a critical role in the development of Sociology as a scientific and an academic discipline. More specifically, the programme is designed to enable students gain a thorough grasp of sociological theories and methods; develop and sharpen their critical judgement as well as their observational, analytical and interpretative skills; and develop in them an ability to relate theory to practice with particular reference to developing societies in general and to Nigeria in particular.

The Head of Department is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Department. (S)he manages this responsibility through the Departmental Committees and the Departmental Board. Departmental Committees are constituted by the Board, and are charged with the responsibility of attending to the maintenance of standards, detailed implementation of Board policies, or some special cases that may arise from time to time. Such committees include, amongst others: Departmental Appointments and Promotions Committee; Student’ Advisory Committee; Student’s Grievances Committee; Postgraduate Committee; Seminar and Publications Committee; Student’ Project Committee and Curriculum Committee. In addition to these, there are also Examinations and Library Officers.

Our Vision

The underlying vision of the Department is to train and fortify students with academic, intellectual, methodological and theoretical as well as practical skills with which to confront social life and, more importantly, the causes and consequences of human social behavior. The degrees should, at the end, provide exciting and challenging opportunities to explore fundamental and foundational issues about human social behavior, social life and social problems from both the theoretical and practical dimensions. Students will have the opportunity to engage in critical thinking about the various normative values or order, socio-cultural milieu, practices and imbalances including various social events, social structures, processes and social development. Overall, the programmes should allow students to acquire knowledge and develop skills in reasoning, analyses, imagination and writing which should prepare them to contribute to all facets of life relating to the sociological enterprise.

Our Mission

The mission of the programmes is to train students who should be able to build a career in public and private sectors of the political economy and in academia, as well as being able to assist in the management of human society in all its various spheres, institutions or organisations and to provide solution to wide-ranging societal problems.