Benue State University is a state-owned and operated university in Makurdi

Makurdi

Makurdi is the capital of Benue State in Nigeria. The city is located in central Nigeria along the Benue river bank and was the base for the Nigerian Air Force's MiG 21 and SEPECAT Jaguar aircraft squadrons...

, Benue State

Benue State

Benue is a state in the Middle-Belt region of Nigeria with a population of about 2.8 million in 1991. Tiv, Idoma, and Igede are spoken predominantly. There are other ethnic groups as well. These include Etulo and Abakwa...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. Its 2006 student enrollment was over 19,000 served by 429 faculty. It offers both undergraduate and graduate programs and has a catalog of fifty graduate programs across seven colleges . It is accredited by the National Universities Commission

National Universities Commission

The National Universities Commission of Nigeria is a government commission promoting quality higher education in Nigeria. It is located in the capital city of Abuja. The Commission was established in 1962 as an advisory agency. It is currently part of the Federal Ministry of Education.-External...

.

History

The university was founded in 1992 and served 306 students with 149 faculty . At the time, the state government felt that the community needed a conventional university to augment the specialized academic offerings of the Federal University of Agriculture. In 1991, the state government formed a thirteen-member steering committee to plan for and obtain approval to form the university. The university began offering classes for the 1992/1993 school year in four colleges - Arts, Education, Sciences, and Social Science.

College-level units

Benue State University has seven college-level units:

• Arts
• College of Health Science
• Education
• Law
• Management Science
• Science
• Social Science

Research

The university has two libraries: a general University Library and a Law Library. Together, both libraries hold over 22,000 volumes. They subscribe to 106 Nigerian journals and 26 foreign journals. The libraries are open a total of eighty hours per week and close at 10pm from Monday to Friday.

The University Library maintains a comprehensive selection of works by Nigerian authors. Archives of local and foreign conference reports are collected, as well as a selection of federal and state government gazettes and Benue State House proceedings.

The Law Library has a capacity for 96 student readers. In addition to local legal material, the library also holds reproductions of vital out-of-print legal reports and journals for research use. The library has had difficulty obtaining foreign legal materials, but does have a small collection on site.

Athletics

Athletic activities are handled by the university's Sports Unit. The university participates in the Nigerian University Games Association

Nigerian University Games Association

The Nigerian University Games Association organizes university-level sports events in Nigeria. It hosts a bi-annual interuniversity sports competition called the University Games. The first NUGA games were held at the University of Ibadan in 1966...

 and has won silver and bronze medals at NUGA's Sports Fiesta.

Facilities include a football field, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 court, badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

 court, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 court, and two tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 courts.

Awards

• Silver Medal, Football (2001 NUGA Sports Fiesta)
• Silver Medal, Judo
  Judo
  is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
  
   (2001 NUGA Sports Fiesta)
• Bronze Medal, Taekwando (2001 NUGA Sports Fiesta)