Abstract

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Nigeria has a population of over 200 million people of which 1% of the population are enrolled in universities. Microbiology is a course with a high enrolment rate among undergraduates. The field is a vital discipline focusing on the study of microorganisms and their role in health, industry, environment, agriculture, climate change and other relevant sector and it has a potential of revolutionising medicine and the fate of a disease outbreak if the right research is conducted. However, microbiology education in Nigeria is faced with a lot of challenges which slow down the progress of the discipline and has negative impacts on the training of future microbiology leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic brought about closure of schools which put extra load on the already deficient education system and microbiology education is not left behind. The aim of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by microbiology education in Nigeria and explore the opportunities for improvement

Keywords: Microbiology, Education, COVID-19, Pandemic, STEM, Nigeria