The Code of Conduct Bureau and its twin sister, the Code of Conduct Tribunal are Extra-Ministerial Departments set up by the Federal Government under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap 56, LFN 1990.  

The history of the organization could be traced to the constitution of the Second Republic i.e. the 1979 constitution fifth schedule part 1, which clearly stipulates a Code of Conduct for public officers.

In consonance with this provision, the Military Administration of General Murtala/Obasanjo inaugurated a board headed by late Alhaji Isa Kaita before the termination of the regime in 1979.

The Bureau could not however become operational due to the inability of the then National Assembly to pass the enabling bill into law until the demise of the second republic in 1983.

The organization was however resuscitated by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1988 with the appointment of a ten-member board headed by Rev. Canon Mohammed with Dr. Rex Akpofure as the first Director General/Secretary of the Board. In order to avoid the problems the body encountered in the Second Republic, the Babangida regime went a step further by promulgating Decree 1 of 1989 to give , legal backing to the organization.

In 1999 the Constitution affirmed the above thus permanently enshrining the organization. Between August 1999 - March 2000 the Board of the Bureau was chaired by Hon. Justice Haruna J. Dandaura (Rtd)

Navy Captain E. E. Nsa (Rtd) a Full-Time Board member is overseeing the affairs of the Bureau.