BRIEF HISTORY OF DEPARTMENT OF PARASITOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY
Programme in Parasitology and Entomology started in 1982 in the Anambra State University of Technology (ASUTECH) under the Department of Applied Biology and the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences with the following areas of Specialization in the Year Three: Parasitology, Entomology, Fisheries, and Plant Pathology/ Crop Protection. Three batches of students were graduated between 1986 and 1988. During the 1985/86 Session, the Departments of Parasitology and Entomology, Plant Pathology/Crop Protection (re-named Department of Horticulture and Plant Protection) were carved out from the original Department of Applied Biology, taking along with them the specialization areas of Parasitology and Entomology, Plant Pathology/Crop Protection respectively. Thus, giving three departments all under the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences. The Department of Horticulture and Plant Protection was later moved to the Faculty of Agriculture in the then College of Agricultural Sciences at Abakaliki (now within Ebonyi State University).
The new Department of Parasitology and Entomology produced her first batch of graduates in 1989. In 1989, the University, faced with the problem of reducing both cost and the number of faculties following the State rationalization exercise on reduction of some departments and faculties, the Department of Applied Biology and Parasitology and Entomology were merged. This merger gave rise to the department of Parasitology/ Applied
Biology which offered a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degree with options in Parasitology and Entomology and Applied
Biology
Following the creation of Anambra State in 1991, ASUTECH was renamed Nnamdi Azikiwe University. This was followed by some re-organizations. The Department of Parasitology and Entomology/Applied Biology became known as the Department of Biological Sciences which offered degree options in Parasitology and Entomology, Zoology, and Botany. Again, following the Federal Government’s take-over of the University in 1992 and coupled with the high level of subscription for admission there was the need for a demerger of the options. In the 2000/2001 Session, there was a demerger which gave rise to three independent departments: Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Department of Zoology, and Department of Botany. The first batch of students from the Department of Parasitology and Entomology, after this demerging, graduated in the 2003/2004 Session. Graduates of Parasitology and Entomology are highly subscribed for and are richly very enterprising in various fields of endeavours both within Nigeria and globally.