The Christian missionaries, who were the fore runners of the British imperialist, introduced western education into the shores of Nigeria in 1842 with the motive of introducing the religion of Christianity, supplanting African traditional practices with western civilization and raising a class of clerks and interpreters for the smooth conduct of the legitimate trade. Introduction of education aided the process of colonisation as Africans embraced everything western, but the same education, ironically lent tremendous assistance to the advocates of liberation while the struggle for emancipation lasted.  This paper examined the role of educational policies and programmes implemented during the colonial era and the contribution of key actors to the process of emancipation of the country. While western education was introduced in 1842, the first purely Nigerian education ordinance was formulated in 1887 and subsequent educational ordinances, reports or memoranda were made in 1908, 1916, 1922, 1925, 1926 and 1948 among others and the country had her independence on October 1, 1960. The study made use of documentary analysis approach and facts obtained were given thematic interpretation. The source material used consists of archive documents, memoirs of politicians, newspaper publications, records of political parties relating to education, colonial policies on education with specific reference to Nigeria and the National Policy on Education. A case study approach highlighting the ideological and political contexts which aided the contributions of significant individuals like the late chief Obafemi Awolowo, the late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, the late Sir Ahmadu Bello/Tafawa Balewa from the 1930s up to the eve of independence were used to complement information from other sources. Documents analysed revealed that: Education brought about awareness of rights and privileges under the various constitutions adopted in colonial Nigeria and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The exposure of nationalists and politicians to education opportunities and programmes outside the country and the haphazard implementation of colonial educational policies in the then colony had inadvertently raised the tempo of agitations for emancipation. Through education, Nigerians became conscious of the evils of colonialism, and the enormous human and material resources available in their country and then initiated struggles to control their own destiny which eventually reached the climax in form of attainment of independence from their erstwhile colonial masters on October1^st, 1960.