About Us

History

The Department of Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, was established in the 2010/2011 academic session. The program was established bearing in mind the need for the University of Ilorin to contribute to national development through the production and development of forest resources and biological diversity, maintenance of ecological resilience and stability, and overall advancement of the forestry sector. The first set of students were admitted for the 2010/2011 session. The pioneering work to put the new Department on a sound footing started with the Academic Brief which was prepared by Prof. L. Popoola, a Professor of Forest Economics at the Department of Forest Resources Management, University of Ibadan. Prof. B.A. Raji joined the services of the University of Ilorin from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2010 and was saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the take-off of the Department. He was later joined in 2011 by Drs. F.D. Babalola, T.O. Amusa, and Nusirat A. Sadiku as the first full-time academic staff. They constituted the formidable team of pioneering academic staff that worked assiduously to lay a solid foundation for the Department. The Vice-Chancellor appointed Prof. S.O. Bada as the substantive Head of the Department in November 2012. Subsequently, Dr. S.O. Jimoh joined as a sabbatical staff in 2013. Prof. L. Popoola joined the Department on sabbatical leave in 2015 and was appointed the Head of Department. Dr. F.D. Babalola was appointed the Acting Head of the Department for two years (2016 – 2018), followed by Dr. T.O. Amusa (2018 – 2020). Dr. A.A. Adeyemi joined the Department as a tenured staff in 2017 and is currently the Acting Head of the Department. Many other academic staff members have joined, served, and still serving the Department at different times to build a very strong Department, among whom are Profs. J.I. Amonum, O.J. Olujobi, S.L. Larinde, Drs. Olabisi F. Adekola, T.H. Aliyu, R.O. Uddin II, Kehinde O. Afinnih and Foluso A. Bankole. The first and full accreditation of the degree program by the National Universities Committee (NUC) of Nigeria took place in 2016.