Department Of Geography
Brief History
1. BACKGROUND
Ahmadu Bello University is a major active centre for geographic research and teaching in Nigeria. The Department of Geography is among of the oldest departments of Geography in the country and one of the original departments that formed the nucleus of ABU in 1962, although Geography predates this period here. On 26th September, 1962, the rooms formerly used for teaching ‘A’ Level
Geography at the former Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (which later became ABU) became the nucleus of the university and have remained so ever since, although greatly expanded.
The Departmental Library is the largest Geography Departmental Library in the country. The Department also has a comprehensive map Library. The Department used to have a fleet of field buses and Land Rovers to facilitate an extensive programme of field work.
Staff-Student relation is friendly, and undergraduates run the socially and academically active National Association of Geography Students (NAGS), ABU Chapter.
Registration Guidelines
REGISTRATION GUIDELINES
Fresh students are to come with the originals of their relevant credentials to the Faculty/Department to be screened and collect admission letters. Successful candidates would be informed of the procedure for registration with the academic Office, the Faculty and the Department.
Students who have successfully been assigned registration numbers and have paid the university fees should consult with the registration officer before filling the course registration form online. Pre-requisites must be satisfied for courses that have such. Unrestricted elective courses chosen outside the Department must be approved by the Department. In any one semester, a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 24 credit units may be registered for.
At the point of registration, a student is required to pay the National Association of Geography Students (NAGS) dues, purchase the students’ Handbook and settle other charges as may be required from time to time. The bio-data and course registration forms must duly be signed by all appropriate officers.
It is the primary responsibility of every student to ensure that he or she is properly registered for a course and for the semester programme. No student would receive credit for a course in which the student is not properly registered even if the student attended the classes and wrote all the examinations prescribed in that course. Also, if a student is properly registered in a course and later dropped the course without notification and proper amendments to his\her registration form, the student would be deemed to have been absent in that examination and would be regarded as having failed in that course and this would affect the calculation of the student’s GPA
All students must therefore register in courses they intend to offer within the two weeks period of registration. No course registration would be allowed after the official closing of registration. Two weeks after course registration officially closes, student can only drop those courses they do not intend to continue with, otherwise they would be required to sit for the examinations and pass them. Also, perhaps due to dropping of some courses, students can add other courses. These can be done by the use of the Add or Drop form.
Students must register with Geography Department all elective courses taken in other Departments. Failure to do so would mean that the student is carrying less than the minimum credit load for that semester. The Department would not accept credits earned in electives that were not originally registered in the Departmental registration form during the official period of registration.
All registration forms must be signed personally by each student before the registration officer. No student can register or sign for another student who is not physically present. It is the responsibility of every student at the beginning of each semester to obtain from the Examinations Officer a record of his/her academic status and progress. Such a record is expected to indicate total credit units registered (TRCU) and total credit units earned (TECU); it should also indicate whether or not the student has been taking care of the core courses in preparation for final graduation.
A student is regarded as a bonafide student of the Department only when the necessary registration forms have been duly submitted to the Departmental Registration Officer in charge of his/her level.