CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND EVALUATION IN LITERATURE EDUCATION IN THE ERA OF INSECURITY AND INFLUENCE OF THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: TOWARDS A SAFE-DIGITAL PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK

This paper examines the converging pressures transforming literature education in higher institutions Northern Nigeria: the ongoing crisis of physical insecurity, exacerbated by banditry, insurgency, and mass abductions; and the disruptive transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on academic practices. The paper contends that current evaluation frameworks for literature are fundamentally obsolete: they are impractical in high-risk contexts and susceptible to AI-generated academic dishonesty. The paper outlines six transitional pedagogical models appropriate for the conflict-digital nexus of Northern Nigeria, highlights critical shortcomings in current policy and practice, and suggests a unified ‘Safe-Digital Pedagogy’ framework based on four foundational elements: location-agnostic assessment design, AI-critical evaluation rubrics, trauma-informed instructional practice, and localised digital infrastructure development. The paper goes into more detail, such as the 40/60 Human-in-the-Loop grading split, micro-credentialing through low-bandwidth mobile platforms, and the process journal requirement. The paper suggests to the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), and the heads of institutions. By adhering to these recommendations, graduates of Nigeria will possess the requisite humanistic depth and digital fluency demanded by the rapidly evolving global knowledge economy.