This study traces the development of music education in Nigeria from its origins to the present day and clarifies how certain ideas and practices in Nigerian music education have originated. It includes the discussions of the historical roots of modern music studies as based on indigenous African philosophy of education, later influenced by Islam and Islamic philosophy of education and Western systems of music education. It looks historically and analytically at some problems of music education policy implementation and their implications or consequences (intended and unintended). Working from a postcolonial discursive perspective, the study narrates the story of Nigeria's colonial encounters in a way that gives prominence to issues of educational policies and music curricula content that have, to date, been kept on the periphery of the education debate.