Evaluation of Chemistry Laboratory Facilities in Tertiary Institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria

The study evaluated the availability and utilization of chemistry laboratory facilities of tertiary institutions in Rivers. The design of the study was evaluation survey design involving Chemistry laboratories. The population included heads of schools, heads of the Chemistry subject lecturers for Chemistry courses and chief laboratory technologist. Sample in this study included six Tertiary institutions in Rivers state via purposive sampling is the procedure The instruments for data collection was Laboratory Facilities Inventory(LFI) developed by the research and semester results of students The experts checked for clarity of inventory items, and make necessary corrections that improved the instrument. The instrument was subjected to a test retest method of reliability. The information gotten was used in estimating the reliability index which will yield a coefficient of 0.82 using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The data collected was analyzed using mean standard deviation and Analysis of Variance for Regression .The result of the study shows that some laboratory facilities are available and utilized. The finding further reveals that there is significant influence of laboratory facilities utilization on students’ academic performance as measured in CGPA. Therefore, the study recommends that government should ensure adequate provision of laboratory facilities, schools should source funds from organizations like NGOs to equip the laboratory