The teaching of Engineering in the University of Nigeria was started in October 1961 by a team of workers from the Netherlands University Foundation for International Cooperation. The foundation was entrusted with the major responsibility of developing the Engineering Programme. The first teaching staff in Electrical Engineering was recruited in the 1962/63 academic year and comprised three lecturers. The foundation lecturers were highly motivated and committed. They fashioned and developed for the first intake of Electrical Engineering Students at the University of Nigeria an innovative curriculum designed for the needs of a new nation.

The postgraduate programme started in 1982, offering Masers and PhD programs in Electric Power Systems, Electrical Machines and Drives System, Automatic Control Systems and Power Electronics and New Energy Systems.

In 1995 the main laboratory was gutted by fire, it took until 2012 for the building to be rebuilt and this time it was expanded and modernized. In 2010, the pre-fabricated wooden building housing the offices and classrooms was also gutted by fire and the entire department now has to be relocated to the rebuilt laboratory. At present, the department can boast of 24 academic staff members, 15 technical staff and three administrative staff.