10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

University students in Nigeria are faced with numerous psychological and social challenges. The challenges include geographical relocation, financial constraints, academic stress, peer pressure and social adjustment. These challenges sometimes lead to health crises, academic failure, low morale, poor self-esteem and mental disorder. Therefore, this paper examines the promotion of holistic wellbeing through counselling services within the framework of the One Health approach. The one health approach highlights the connectivity of human, environmental and social systems to address the challenges of university students in Nigeria. Drawing from relevant literature, the paper emphasises the role of counselling services in promoting the students’ psychological wellbeing. It underlines how counselling techniques and interventions can be combined with environmental and social elements to produce effective outcomes. It assumes that the improvement of students’ wellbeing contributes to human development, social stability, national progress and sustainable transformation in Nigeria. The paper concludes that universities in Nigeria should strengthen counselling services to effectively address the challenges confronting the students. The paper recommends that universities in Nigeria should ensure the incorporation of technology-driven counselling approaches in their institutions. In addition, a policy that would enable increased funding for the services should be enacted.