The Department started in the year 1973 as a re-activation of the earlier Diploma programme which started in 1957 during the Nigeria College of Arts and Science that had to be cancelled because of lack of qualified lecturers. The reactivation began with the Undergraduate B.Ed. programme to enable numerous NCE graduates from the University locality obtain their first degree in the field. Two years later, Diploma and B.Sc. (PHE) were introduced to produce Primary Schools teachers and provide staff for States Sports Councils and other sports clubs in the country. Extensive reorganization began since 1988/89 when the University converted the programmes into Semester system. The courses were reviewed, and in addition some courses found no more functional were dropped to increase quality and effectiveness of the programmes. Also the programme has been streamlined to offer single B.Sc. degree in Physical and Health Education rather than degrees in Physical Education and Health Education separately. This combination was left in the interest of the University locality at least for now, to allow Physical Education to survive since many would wish to avoid practicals, and therefore opt for Health Education.