APROCON tasks government on establishment of well-equipped counseling centres in schools across Nigeria

The Association of Professional Counselors in Nigeria (APROCON) has called on Counsellor Educators to provide adequate theoretical and practical training to students in Nigeria to adequately equip them to deliver professional counseling services as well as for the Association to champion community-based outreaches that will help combat, cultism, drug abuse amongst other societal vices.

The Association also urged government at all levels to establish functional, well-equipped counseling centres in schools across the nation to help achieve this feat.

The association also The APROCON President, Prof. Osorochi Obi, who made this known in her address at the opening ceremony of the 9th Annual International Conference of APROCON held at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), with the theme “Counseling and Conflict Resolution”, disclosed that effective conflict resolution was vital for national unity.

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The President said that the five-day conference, the association’s first international conference would delve into transformative counseling practices for conflict resolution, mediation and arbitration as she advised members to equip themselves to adapt in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
Obi, a lecturer at MOUAU, explained that there were ongoing efforts to ensure that APROCON Bill was passed and assented to, as according to her, the bill once enacted, will provide a regulatory framework, establish professional standards, and enable counselors to operate legally in private practice.

Declaring the conference open, the Vice-Chancellor of MOUAU, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, charged APROCON to lead the change in building a national framework for preventive counseling and conflict transformation.

He urged the association to develop strategies that could be adopted by the ministries of education, women affairs and others, to address bullying, cultism school violence, domestic abuse, marital breakdown among others.

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In a keynote address, Regional Representative, Institute of Global Peace and Conflict Management, Abuja, Dr Okey Nworgu, urged the association to take counseling beyond the school environment.

He maintained that counselors are needed in every sphere of life help fight the ills presently bedeviling society.
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