The Nasarawa State University Open and Distance eLearning Centre is committed to providing a quality academic open distance eLearning programme to interested candidates in Nigeria and from across the globe. The Centre is adequately and appropriately positioned to providing up-to-date, learner friendly, supported and interactive course materials. The course materials were developed and produced by seasoned academics who are experts in the various academic disciplines offered in this programme.

The course materials are presented in modules made up of units and sub-units. Each unit has learning outcomes which guides the students learning. All the sub-units have self-assessment exercises that will help the student to know whether he or she is on course while reading. Each unit has a reference list for further reading and possible answers to the self-assessment questions.

The course materials are self-explanatory for easy learning, self-assessment and facilitation since learners and their tutors will be separated by distance and other factors. The students are expected to engage in self-study and assessment before engaging in a short period of physical interaction and examination.

This course material should therefore be your companion as you are expected to study independently with minimal physical guidance and facilitation. You are also expected to be in touch with your course e-tutors and facilitators any time you need help and clarifications. It is also important for you to note that the Centre has a well-equipped guidance, counselling and student-support unit to take care of those who may be in need from time to time.

On behalf of the Vice Chancellor Prof. Suleman, B. Mohammed, I would like to appreciate the course developers, writers and editors for their commitment and dedication in producing this course material for the use of our ODeL students. I therefore strongly recommend this well-developed course material to all our student and wish them the very best in their endeavor especially as the use this course material for their study in the programme.

I sincerely appreciate the commitment and support of the Vice Chancellor and his management team to the Centre in ensuring that the necessary materials and personnel are made available for our students to make their study engaging, interesting and worthwhile.

I wish all our students an interesting study time.