Experts Warn AI Could Become Co-Worker,Urge Schools’ Curriculum Overhaul

Stakeholders and technology experts have warned that Nigeria risks leaving its students unprepared for the future labour market unless the government urgently overhauls the nation’s educational curricula to reflect the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI), which is expected to become a co-worker across several professions within the next three to five years.

They said the growing adoption of AI across education, healthcare, agriculture, aviation and other sectors requires a fundamental shift in how Nigerian students are taught, urging authorities to equip learners with the technical skills, critical thinking and ethical understanding needed to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven world.

The experts spoke at the StudyIn Global Study Conference in Lagos, themed: “Future Ready: Succeeding in an AI-Driven World,” where they examined the implications of AI for education, career opportunities and the future of work.

An AI expert, Dr Lola Olukuewu, said the rapid advancement of AI was transforming professional environments, making it imperative for Nigeria to begin preparing students for a workplace in which humans and intelligent technologies would increasingly work together.

Olukuewu, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and founder of Bloom Academy for Artificial Intelligence, warned that AI would soon move beyond being a tool for improving productivity to becoming an active participant in workplace processes.

“Within the next three to five years, even here in Africa, in Nigeria, AI will become a full-blown co-worker. So it is no longer maybe a competitor alone, but it becomes a co-worker for many of our careers,” she said.

According to her, AI could handle end-to-end processes across several sectors within the next decade, with humans providing oversight of the technology’s functions.

She said the development made it urgent for Nigeria to reform its educational system, noting that the country’s curricula remained outdated while institutions in other parts of the world were adjusting their programmes to reflect technological advancements.

“The best time to be prepared for this reality is now. In fact, it is yesterday,” she said, stressing the need to introduce young learners to emerging technologies early enough to prevent them from being disadvantaged in the global labour market.

Olukuewu, who described herself as the first female certified Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at the Carnegie Institute for Technology in Denmark, called for a coordinated, top-down approach to curriculum reform rather than isolated initiatives by individual schools.

She urged the government to move beyond discussions about AI adoption by creating clear implementation timelines for introducing relevant subjects and learning modules into the education system.

The expert also challenged students to move beyond using existing AI applications to developing solutions to real-world problems.

“It is one thing to be an AI user. It is another thing to be an AI innovator,” she said.

She added that educational institutions must prepare students to use AI responsibly, insisting that discussions about the technology should also address values, ethics and the broader purpose of education.

Similarly, the Country Director of StudyIn, Mrs Mary Agbu, said Nigerian students needed better information about global education opportunities, emerging career pathways and the skills required to succeed in an increasingly technology-driven world.

Agbu, who is also an executive director of Multi-Plan Pathway College and First Multi-Plan Consultants, said students and parents must be involved in conversations about AI, scholarships, international education, and career planning to help them make informed decisions.

She warned that assumptions that young people were naturally proficient in technology could create gaps in their understanding of AI and its implications for their education and future careers.

Agbu also argued that tighter United States immigration policies should not automatically discourage Nigerians from pursuing higher education abroad, explaining that students could explore programmes incorporating internships and practical work experience.

She said the restrictions had made it more difficult for some international graduates to remain in the United States and work after their studies. However, she maintained that students could still benefit from international education and structured work placements.

“The way the world is moving is such that students can finish and, having made a lot of investment in education, choose to stay on and get some experience within the environment where they have studied,” she said.

On his part, technology expert David Ogebe described AI as both a leveller and a multiplier, saying it could enhance the capabilities of individuals with varying levels of intelligence and improve their ability to engage in complex discourse and reasoning.

He, however, lamented that Nigeria’s education system did not adequately prepare students for industry’s demands, calling for a curriculum redesign that aligns academic training with employers’ needs.

Ogebe’s position underscored concerns about the widening gap between classroom learning and workplace requirements, particularly as businesses increasingly integrate digital tools and AI into their operations.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Staff at StudyIn, Adiba Ofungwu, said inadequate awareness of admission requirements, course options and scholarship opportunities remained a major challenge for Nigerians seeking higher education abroad.

She explained that some universities offered tuition discounts and other scholarship opportunities that prospective students often overlooked when selecting institutions and courses.

Ofungwu also disclosed that the organisation had observed reduced demand for study destinations such as the United States, while changing immigration policies in the United Kingdom had encouraged more students to consider Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Germany.

She said the shift highlighted the importance of providing students with reliable information about available destinations and helping them match their academic qualifications and skills with suitable programmes.

According to her, the growing influence of AI has widened the gap between local educational preparation and the expectations students could encounter in international institutions, making early preparation necessary for them to compete effectively.

The stakeholders maintained that preparing Nigerian students for the future would require more than access to AI tools, stressing the need for relevant curricula, practical learning, ethical awareness and better career guidance to ensure that graduates could adapt to changing workplace demands.