The traditional approach to academic and career guidance in Nigerian secondary schools is coming under increasing strain as shifts in the global job market, rapid automation and changing workplace expectations expose long-standing weaknesses in subject-to-career pathways.
For decades, students have been channelled into familiar routes such as science for medicine, arts for law, and commerce for business. But educators now argue that this framework no longer reflects how modern careers are formed or how work itself is evolving.
At a recent session, education leaders from more than 20 secondary schools joined policymakers, workforce experts and youth development professionals to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) could help close these gaps in career guidance.
Speaking at the session, Tosin Okojie, education entrepreneur and founder of MyGeecs, a career navigation platform said the core problem lies in how career decisions are currently made. “The consensus has always been that students are making life-altering choices based on superficial indicators, while parents are navigating a rapidly changing economic landscape using outdated assumptions,” he said.
Okojie argued that the pace of technological change is also reshaping what success looks like in the workplace, making early and more informed guidance essential. “What it takes to be a good accountant or lawyer today is vastly different from five years from now,” he said. “In five years, artificial intelligence will handle that, making the role about creativity, negotiation, and human interaction.”
