Professional Counseling in Nigeria: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

The events that circumscribed the parameters of today's counseling in Nigeria are many and varied regarding their influence in shaping the development of the profession in the country. The authors review these events and the current status of counseling in Nigeria, including the challenges faced in the profession. Future trends and suggestions for strengthening the profession are emphasized.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Challenges Faced by Counselors in Places Where Professional Counseling is Nascent

“…Such challenges and barriers are associated with being a new profession that lacks recognition and role comprehension by the larger society and fellow helping professionals in their respective countries. Other challenges and barriers experienced by these counselors include, but are not limited to: stigmatization of mental health counseling in their societies, reliance of immediate social support for socio-emotional needs instead of professional help, lack of public funding and policies supportive of mental health counseling, lack of systematic quality training and certification, adaptation of Western-based mental health treatment models, competition from paraprofessionals providing mental health services, lack of effective national leadership to advocate for the profession, lack of interprofessional networking, lack of access to information technology, isolation from and exclusion by other more established mental health professions, and lack of governmental recognition (Aluede et al, 2005;Lester et al, 2018;Okocha & Alika, 2012;Rahman & Atan, 2013;Shi, 2018;Stockton et al, 2010;Yuen, 2011).…”

The Emergence of Counseling in Sierra Leone

“…These institutionalized efforts to address mental health in Sierra Leone go back to the mid‐1800s (Bell, ). However, unlike in other sub‐Saharan countries where counseling has taken root and is flourishing, such as Botswana (Stockton, Nitza, & Bhusumane, ), Kenya (Okech & Kimemia, ), Nigeria (Okocha & Alika, ), South Africa (Maree & van der Westhuizen, ), Uganda (Senyonyi, Ochieng, & Sells, ), and Zimbabwe (Richards, Zivave, Govere, Mphande, & Dupwa, ), in Sierra Leone the field of formal counseling has just begun to emerge.…”

Counselling Resources in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: Exploring Availability and Accessibility

“…In Nigeria and other African countries not all the schools (private or public) have school counsellors and where there is, an average of one counsellor (1000-1) will be available for the whole school irrespective of the students' size (Okocha & Alika, 2012). Provision of resources needed for effective counselling services appears to be difficult when compared to the advanced countries due to limited budgetary allocated for education sector in general (Goodrich et al 2014;Goss &Adebowale 2014;).…”

“…This has led to shortage of manpower and material resources for effective therapeutic services to be rendered for students within the school. African countries like Simbabwe (Nkala, 2014), Namibia (Mushaandja et al 2013, Kenya (Okech & Kimemia, 2012), and Nigeria (Okocha & Alika, 2012;Nweze & Okolie, 2014) have been witnessing shortage of counselling facilities and resources in the past decade and this has led increase in social, behavioural and mental problems being exhibited by young adults across the continent.…”