The Department of Electrical Engineering was established in 1964, as one of the three pioneering departments of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of  Lagos.   Courses were offered in the department in a programme designed for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Electrical Engineering.  Initially, the programme was a three-year post A-levels programme (four-year post O-levels), but during the 1976/77 academic session, it was modified to a four-year post A-levels (or five-year post O-levels) programme, in order to accommodate a one-year supervised industrial training scheme (the Students’ Industrial Work-Experience Scheme (SIWES)).  

Furthermore, new courses were introduced during the 1977/78 academic session, in order to broaden the scope of the programme.  The new courses include Antennas and Propagation of Microwave Optics, High-Voltage and Switchgear Engineering, Telephony and Telex Systems and Digital Communications Systems.  In a more recent review of the programme, such other courses as Digital Computer Design, Microprocessors, Computer Graphics, Advanced Instrumentation, and Microwave Optics were introduced, in recognition of contemporary trends in electrical engineering undergraduate training.  Apart from the Electrical Machines, Control and Electronics Laboratories, with which the Department started training students, the department has, over the years, developed laboratories in microwaves and  high-voltage engineering.