If you’re choosing a course, or you’ve been offered guidance and counselling instead of your first choice, you want a straight answer. Here’s what the degree involves, where to study it, what it leads to, and its real drawbacks.
Yes, if you want to work as a counsellor. Guidance and counselling is the degree Nigeria’s counselling law is built around, and it leads to work in schools, NGOs, workplaces and private practice. It’s a weaker choice if you want hospital-based clinical work or to prescribe medication.
What you study
A guidance and counselling degree trains you to help people with educational, career and personal problems. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka describes its programme as covering educational, vocational and career counselling, socio-personal counselling, sensitivity training, practicum and special educational needs.
Course lists give a clearer picture. Ahmadu Bello University’s B.Ed Guidance and Counselling includes, among others:
- counselling theories
- research in counselling
- appraisal (assessment) in counselling
- behaviour modification
- interviewing in guidance and counselling
- two practicum courses, where you counsel real clients under supervision
- teaching practice
- ethics and current issues in counselling
Most degrees are a B.Ed, which means you also study education and a teaching subject. Osun State University (UNIOSUN), for example, offers its B.Ed Guidance and Counselling with options in seven teaching subjects, including English, Economics, Mathematics and Biology. That teaching subject is a useful fallback, because it lets you teach as well as counsel.
Where to study it
These are programmes we confirmed on each institution’s own website in October 2026. It isn’t a full list, and it isn’t a ranking.
| Institution | Programme | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| University of Ibadan | Guidance and counselling (counselling psychology) at undergraduate and postgraduate level | Its department dates from 1976 |
| University of Ilorin | B.Ed and M.Ed Guidance and Counselling | First graduates in 1979 |
| University of Nigeria, Nsukka | B.Ed Guidance and Counselling | A shorter direct-entry route for NCE holders |
| Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria | B.Ed and M.Ed Guidance and Counselling | |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka | B.Ed, PGD, M.Ed and PhD Guidance and Counselling | |
| Osun State University | B.Ed Guidance and Counselling | Seven teaching-subject options |
| Babcock University (private) | B.Sc Guidance and Counseling | |
| University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre | B.Ed (Hons.) Guidance and Counseling | Distance learning |
| National Open University of Nigeria | M.Ed Guidance and Counselling | Postgraduate only; no undergraduate guidance and counselling degree was listed |
Two checks before you accept an offer:
- Accreditation. The National Universities Commission publishes accreditation results, but as long PDF documents. Ask the department for the programme’s current status.
- Council approval. Registration with the Counselling Practitioners Council of Nigeria (CPCN) needs a course approved by the Council. cpcn.org.ng, a site carrying the Council’s name, has announced an approval process for training institutions, but no list of approved courses was published when we checked. Ask the department whether it has applied.
Entry requirements
Each university sets its own, so check the current admission brochure. As examples:
- UNIOSUN asks UTME candidates for five SSCE or GCE credits, including English Language and Mathematics, in no more than two sittings, plus an acceptable UTME score and Post-UTME screening. The degree takes four years through UTME and three through direct entry.
- The UI Distance Learning Centre asks for five O-level credits at one sitting or six at two, including English Language and the teaching subject you choose. Its direct-entry route accepts the NCE.
For your UTME subjects, check JAMB’s current brochure for each university you’re applying to.
Careers after the degree
- School counsellor. Counselling in Nigeria is mostly practised in schools, especially secondary schools. Many school posts are advertised as teaching posts and ask for registration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), which says registration is a legal requirement for teachers.
- Teacher. Your teaching subject lets you teach if a counselling post isn’t available.
- NGO and humanitarian work. Psychosocial and MHPSS posts often accept a guidance and counselling degree, usually with a few years’ experience.
- Workplace roles. Welfare, HR and employee assistance work. CASSON lists welfare and personnel officers among the roles related to counselling.
- Private and online practice, once you’re registered and have supervised experience.
- Further study and lecturing, through an M.Ed, PhD or a master’s in counselling psychology.
Our guide to counselling jobs in Nigeria covers each of these, with what employers ask for.
Suggested read: Ethics in Counselling: Principles Every Client Should Know
The honest pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| It’s the direct route to statutory registration. The CPCN Act defines a counsellor as a professionally trained guidance and counselling person, including professionals from therapeutic counselling. | Registration is only just starting, and the Council hasn’t published its requirements and fees in full. |
| Posts that require a Professional Counsellor, in government and in companies, are meant for registered counsellors. | Many schools don’t have a working counselling unit, and counsellors report being given non-counselling duties. |
| A B.Ed gives you a teaching subject to fall back on. | Clinical psychology, the usual route into hospital therapy work, needs a psychology degree and an MSc. |
| The skills work in schools, NGOs, workplaces and private practice. | You can’t prescribe medication. Only psychiatrists, who are doctors, can. |
| You can study it at a distance, and go on to a master’s. | We couldn’t find reliable, dated figures for counsellors’ pay, so judge offers carefully. |
The problems in schools are documented in local studies. In 2021, principals in Kwara State described schools without a proper counselling unit. In 2024, counsellors in Adamawa State reported duties that had nothing to do with counselling. Our piece on the problems of guidance and counselling in Nigeria goes further.
Guidance and counselling, psychology or social work?
| Guidance and counselling | Psychology | Social work | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First degree | B.Ed or B.Sc Guidance and Counselling | BSc Psychology | Bachelor’s in social work |
| To practise therapy | Two years’ supervised practice, a CASSON-run exam and CPCN registration | An MSc in Clinical Psychology, with an internship | Supervised practice and registration |
| Who registers you | CASSON and the CPCN (Act of 2022) | Professional associations; no statutory council yet | A chartered institute and a national council (two Acts of 2022) |
| Typical settings | Schools, NGOs, workplaces, private practice | Hospitals, clinics, research | Hospitals, child protection, NGOs, prisons |
If you know you want to treat mental health conditions in a hospital, psychology may suit you better. If you want to help young people make decisions and cope with school and family life, guidance and counselling fits. Our guide to how to become a therapist in Nigeria compares all four routes, including psychiatry.
Who the course suits
You’ll probably do well if you:
- like listening more than talking
- have time and patience for young people and their families
- can keep a confidence, even under pressure
- are willing to keep studying and to be supervised after you graduate
While you study, join CASSON as a student member through your department or state chapter. Our guide to CASSON and how counsellors register explains the tiers. For an overview of the field, read what guidance and counselling means.
Studying a helping profession can be heavy. If you need support yourself, Mytherapist.ng has discounted sessions for students.
Frequently asked questions
Is guidance and counselling a professional course in Nigeria? Yes. Counselling is regulated by the Counselling Practitioners Council of Nigeria Act, 2022. Registration as a Professional Counsellor needs an approved course, a pass in a competence exam run by CASSON and moderated by the Council, and certified CASSON membership.
Can I become a therapist with a guidance and counselling degree? Yes, as a counsellor. After the degree you need supervised practice and registration. A certificate of professional competence under the Act needs two years of practical experience supervised by registered counsellors.
How many years is guidance and counselling in Nigeria? Typically four years through UTME and three through direct entry. UNIOSUN, for example, sets those durations, and UNN’s direct-entry route for NCE holders takes two to three years.
Can I study guidance and counselling online in Nigeria? Yes. The University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre offers a B.Ed (Hons.) Guidance and Counseling, and the National Open University of Nigeria offers an M.Ed Guidance and Counselling. Ask how each arranges supervised practicum with real clients.
Is guidance and counselling the same as psychology? No. They overlap, but guidance and counselling trains you to counsel, often in schools, while psychology is a wider science. Clinical psychologists take an MSc in Clinical Psychology after a psychology degree.
Suggested read: Goals of Counselling: What Counselling Aims to Do
What can I do with a guidance and counselling degree? Work as a school counsellor or teacher, in NGO psychosocial roles, in workplace welfare or employee assistance, or in private and online practice once you’re registered. See counselling jobs in Nigeria.
