Forestry & Wood Technology.

This course is designed to broaden students’ knowledge about forest policy, especially the general content of forest policy, the importance of forest policy, policy enactment and implementation process. Students are also expected to know law of procedure and evidence. They should be able to distinguish between criminal and civil forest offences and how to compound forest offences. Students should also have a good understanding of forest administration and the roles of forest administration in sustainable forest management. They should know the significance of lateral and vertical relationship in the organogram of forest organizations and the roles of organogram to the proper functioning of forestry organizations. They should also know the significance of delegation of authority

The course outline will include: Structural models of wood. The effect of orthotropic nature of wood on its physical and mechanical properties. Concept of stress and strain. Elastic constants of wood. Strength properties of wood: bending strength – Modulus of Rupture (MOR) and Modulus of Elasticity (MOE), compression parallel and perpendicular to grain. Methods of determining strength properties of wood. Factors affecting strength properties of wood: specific gravity, moisture content and temperature. Allowable stresses in wood. Application of Harkinson’s formula in estimating strength of wood at an angle to the grain. Rheology of wood: creep and relaxation. Shear stress and strain. Duration of load. Fatigue.

Application of engineering principles to forestry operations including nursery, reforestation, harvesting, road layout, log transportation and milling. Design, construction, drainage and maintenance of forest roads, bridges, dams and buildings. Construction equipment. Principle of transportation engineering.

Introduction to paper manufacturing. Paper industry overview. Raw materials used for paper production. Fundamental steps in paper production. Stock preparation: beating/refining, consistency control, sizing and sizing agents. Effect of sizing agents on paper properties. Application of dyes – coloured pigments, soluble dyes, acid, basic and direct dyes. Paper formation: head box, Fourdrinier wire section, felting at pre-dryer section, dryer section, calendar stack. Quality control. Physical and mechanical properties of paper; grammage, cobb size, tearing, bursting, folding endurance, abrasion resistance, scuff resistance, rigidity, stiffness, tensile and opacity of paper. Paper products: industrial paper, writing/printing paper, paper board, corrugated container and box board.

This course is to provide knowledge on principle of environmental impact assessment (EIA), definition; history and law related to EIA and tools for evaluate impact. Principles of EIA on physical, biological, human use and quality of life are focused. As a practical course, to meet the set objectives, we will engage in lectures, small group and large group discussion, field work in environmental testing, analyzing data, and writing an environmental impact assessment report. This will assist the students in understanding the theory and practical of environmental impact assessment, including approaches dealing with biophysical, cumulative, social and strategic impacts. Identify the steps in the EIA process and describe how EIA and forest management in Nigeria are linked.Topics to be covered include assessment methodology and mitigation measures, preparation and evaluation of EIA reports and case studies of selected forestry and forestry-related projects for assessment of their environmental impacts.

The purpose of this course is to equip students with strategies and methods for execution and communication of studies and investigations in forestry research. The course is to give the students the theoretical and practical skills to conduct, analyze and present written research tasks in Forestry and Wood Technology; and to give insight and understanding of research methodology. It provides fundamental understanding of different scientific research methods, techniques and scientific knowledge. It also enables students, irrespective of their research focus, in developing the most appropriate methodology for their research studies. Students will learn how to evaluate the elements of academic research, title, abstract, literature review, methodology, results and discussion of a research manuscript. Desirable and undesirable qualities of each element will be discussed.

This course is an advance studies in furniture design and production (FWT 415) with emphasis on finished wood products covering furniture; fabricated wood houses and other wood products. Students will be required to design a chosen product using design software, write a production brief and produce the item for assessment.

This course is designed to expose students to the three major enemies against which forest should be protected – Insects, Fungi and Fire. Hence the course is composed of three major sections vis: Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology (Mycology) and Forest Fire. The Forest Entomology component of Forest Protection includes consideration of the roles that insects play in forest landscapes. Both the positive and negative effects that insects have on management values are examined. The important pest species are examined in the context of their natural history, the type of damage they cause, and the ways and means used to manage their impact. Forest pathology is considered, with special reference to important forest diseases, e.g. butt and root rot, top killing, die back etc. Topics to be considered under fire include: combustion and the triangle; breaking the fire triangle; heat transfer; fire fighting methods and tools.

This course is designed to enable students carry out research on identified problem. The research study will be supervised by a lecturer in the Department. The students are expected to attend tutorials on research techniques and scientific writing to enable them have a good understanding of how to carry out research work. In addition students are required to prepare and present project proposal, execute the approved proposal and submit a project report to the Department. The report shall be defended during oral examination which shall be conducted in the presence of the External Examiner.

This course presents theories of efficient utilization of natural resources and discusses issues related to current practices of use of resources. It also discusses issues of sustainability and conservation. The course aims at imparting to the students a thorough understanding of economic reasoning and knowledge of how to apply economics as a tool for decision-making on the utilisation of forests resources in rural and urban environments. The course extensively uses graphical analyses and some mathematical models. It assigns a number of theoretical assignments and reading assignments and provides an option to the students to write a paper on a relevant natural resource issue.

This course is structure in order to equip the students with the skills and techniques involve in the designing of paths and routes linking ecotourism facilities. This course will also afford the students with opportunity to know how the impacts of ecotourism on the ecosystem can be assessed. Accessibility with compatibility of the ecotourism facilities will be achieved through in depth knowledge of the techniques involve in proper planning of tourist facilities. Other topics that will be covered include waste management and maintenance of tourist facilities is considered to have negative impacts on the tourist activities. Assessment of rate of movement of tourists in and out of the preserved areas. Assessment of tourist population on the flora and fauna resources of the reserve; this involves checking level of damages done to various species of flora and fauna resource during the period of tourist visit. Effects of tourist services on introduction of diseases and parasites into the parks. Assessment of impact on park infrastructural facilities.

This course is designed for students to write discussion or review topics of critical importance in Forestry and Wood Technology. The students will be assigned to supervisors who will guide them on how to write seminar papers which the students will eventually present in a seminar.

The course outline will include: Wood as a constructional material. Factors influencing the selection of wood for structural purposes. Basic theory of structures including considerations of elastic and non-elastic deformation. General requirements for structural designs. Standard dimensions of structural timbers. Grade stresses, grouping of Nigeria timber species. Design of wooden beams, columns, trusses and timber superstructures (bridges, buildings and water front structures).

This course utilizes the fundamental concepts of marketing and marketing management to obtain a broad overview of the global forest products industry. Marketing techniques are employed to segment the forest products industry based on product type to facilitate the analysis of this extremely diverse industry. The course begins with a survey of fundamental marketing concepts that are germane to any industry. The course then proceeds to examine how these concepts relate specifically to various segments within the forest products industry. A major emphasis of the course is placed on product management and the development of strategic marketing plans. In addition, case studies specific to the forest products industry will be discussed in the class in order to foster strategic thinking and enhance decision making capabilities among the students.

This course is intended to provide basic and applied information on the adhesive bonding of wood and on wood jointing using mechanical devices. In order to enhance the understanding of the more applied aspects of wood jointing the course will covers the fundamental of adhesion, general principles of glue joint design, the characteristics of the different types of materials used as adhesives and mechanical fasteners; chain analogy of adhesively bonded joint, load-slip characteristics of mechanically fastened joint, basic bonding process and the criteria for selecting adhesives for bonding

The scope of Biology and its place in human welfare including characteristics of life, concepts in biology, topical issues in biology and career opportunities.  Diversity and classification of living things. Cell structure and organization; functions of cellular organelles; diversity, general reproduction, interrelationship of organisms, heredity and evolution; elements of ecology and types of habitat. Differences between plants and animals. Variation and life cycles of plants to include non-vascular plants like algae, fungi, bacteria, viruses, bryophytes and pteridophytes. Varieties and forms, life cycles and functions of flowering plants.

Insitu management of forest resources is very important for sustainability. This course has to do with the various insitu methods of biodiversity conservation and approaches to forest resources management before independence and after. The course is therefore designed to educate students on the various phases involved in forest reservation in Nigeria dated back to the Colonia era and today. During this course, students are introduced to the various insitu conservation methods including the traditional and the organised ones and the management of forest reserves and paks for sustainability. Some of the topics to be covered will include the definition of forest reserve. History of forest reservation in Nigeria. Aims and objectives of forest reservation, methods of forest reservation. Problems of forest reservation. Concepts, principles and policies influencing the development of forest reserves with special reference to Nigeria. Biodiversity Assessment of forest reserves. Logging procedure in forest reserves and free areas. Establishment, management and working plan for forest reserves, plantations and parks. Development of National parks in Nigeria. Remote sensing and National parks management.

The course is designed to expose the students to some basic principles of extension education as it pertains to rural people so as to equip them with basic knowledge on how to disseminate ideas to people in an informal learning situation. Like what obtains in Agriculture, training of local people in some vital aspect of forestry and agroforestry that has the potential to impact positively in their lives is essential. Major components of the course will include meaning of forestry extension and rural sociology; importance of sociology to society; basic principles of extension education; communication process in forestry extension; adult learning methods; audio visual tools for extension activities.