The Department of Microbiology started in 1986 as Industrial Microbiology Programme in the Biological Sciences Programme in the then School of Natural and Applied Sciences (SNAS).
In 1988, the University decided to operate a Departmental structure and based on NUC approved minimum academic standards, the Department of Biological Sciences was established with options in Industrial Microbiology, Industrial Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Molecular Biology.
In 2001/2002 academic sessions, the Department of Biological Sciences was split into four Departments namely: Industrial Microbiology, Industrial Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Molecular Biology. The Department of Microbiology took off in 2002/2003 session with staff strength of fifteen academic and three technical staff and awarded a B. Tech., Industrial Microbiology. In 2007, the Department of Microbiology obtained full accreditation.
In the 2011/2012 session, the curriculum for the Department of Microbiology was reviewed for the award of B. Tech. Microbiology while the name of the programme was changed to Microbiology. The Department has thirty-three (33) Academic staff including six (6) in the Professorial cadre. The student population has grown from sixty in 2002/2003 to four hundred and eighty-eight (488) in 2017/2018 session.