HARNESSING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR EFFECTIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN COUNSELLING PRACTICE: TOWARDS AN ETHICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE NIGERIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

The research study investigates how schools in Nigeria use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for their counselling services to improve their ability to resolve conflicts. Nigerian educational institutions currently face a critical shortage of professional counsellors with practitioner-to- student ratios often exceeding 1:1,000. The "counselling gap" requires innovative solutions but the implementation of AI-driven tools creates important ethical and operational dif iculties for the education system. Through a thematic analysis of current literature and professional standards the study identifies three primary findings which demonstrate that AI increases service accessibility in rural areas while the Nigerian cultural values regulatory framework needs immediate development and "human-in-the-loop" systems must remain operational to test these boundaries. The research proposes a phased implementation approach which begins with capacity building and advances toward national policy development as its methodology for increasingly developing the field. The research proposes a hybrid model which uses AI technology to enhance human empathy while preserving student privacy and professional accountability through technological progress. Keywords: Artificial intelligence; counselling; dispute resolution; ethics;