Integrating Emergency Preparedness and Life-Saving Skills into the Nigerian Educational Curriculum: A National Imperative

Nigeria is constantly and increasingly threatened by a wide range of emergencies, such as natural catastrophes, disease outbreaks, road accidents, fires, and civil unrest. The country's youth are especially at risk during these kinds of emergencies, and this risk is made worse by the fact that most people don't know how to respond to them. This position paper advocates for the compulsory and uniform incorporation of age-appropriate emergency preparedness protocols and life-saving competencies into the national curriculum for primary and secondary education in Nigeria. It argues that teaching a child fundamental skills like CPR, how to stop bleeding, how to be safe around fire, how to give basic first aid, and how to be aware of their surroundings is both a strategic and moral necessity. This proactive step will not only create a culture of safety and resilience from an early age, but it will also immediately lower the number of deaths and illnesses that could have been avoided. The study provides a framework for implementation, prioritising practical, experiential instruction over academic understanding. By investing in this educational reform, Nigeria can provide its young people the tools they need to be first responders, make communities stronger, and take a big step towards protecting future generations. This will turn them from potential victims into capable agents of safety and stability. The paper urged the Federal Ministry of Education and other important groups to make this policy a national priority.

Emergency preparedness, Life-saving skills, Disaster management

1. Abhilash, K. P. P., & Sivanandan, A. (2020). Early management of trauma: The golden hour. Current Medical Issues, 18(1), 36-39. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Adekoya, O. O., et al. (2022). Epidemiology of domestic injuries among children in Nigeria: A systematic review. Nigerian Journal of Paediatrics, 49(1), 1-8. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Babalola, T. K., & Akinbami, F. O. (2023). Assessment of first aid knowledge and its correlates among adults in Lagos, Nigeria. Journal of Community Medicine and Primary Health Care, 35(1), 45-59. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Bettencourt, P. J. (2025). Burden of 375 diseases and injuries, risk-attributable burden of 88 risk factors, and healthy life expectancy in 204 countries and territories, including 660 subnational locations, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Gaikwad, S. A., Shinde, V. D., & Kothavale, S. P. (2025). "Golden Hour" in Road Traffic Accident Victims: Hurdles and Impact on Mortality. Cureus, 17(2), e78772. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.78772 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Kessler, D. O., & Walsh, B. (2022). State-by-state analysis of "Stop the Bleed" initiatives in US secondary schools. Journal of School Health, 92(9), 869–877. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13195 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Kotwal, R. S., Howard, J. T., Orman, J. A., Tarpey, B. W., Bailey, J. A., Champion, H. R., ... & Gross, K. R. (2016). The effect of a golden hour policy on the morbidity and mortality of combat casualties. JAMA surgery, 151(1), 15-24. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Lerner, E. B., & Moscati, R. M. (2001). The golden hour: scientific fact or medical “urban legend”? Academic Emergency Medicine, 8(7), 758-760. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Li, M., & Zhao, D. (2023). The practice and effectiveness of a standardized safety education curriculum in primary schools under China’s "Safe Campus" initiative. Children and Youth Services Review, 154, 107123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107123 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Nasr, A., Tomasich, F. S., Collaço, I., Abreu, P., Namias, N., & Marttos, A. (Eds.). (2019). The trauma golden hour: a practical guide. Springer Nature. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2022). Educating the public about emergency preparedness and response: A workshop summary. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26549 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. National Trauma Registry of Nigeria (NTRN). (2023). Annual Report of Trauma Patterns and Outcomes (Preliminary Data). Ibadan: College of Medicine, University of Ibadan. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Oladiran, O. I., et al. (2021). Pre-hospital time interval and trauma mortality in south-west Nigeria: A multicenter study. African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 11(3), 339-344. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Oluwadiya, K. S., et al. (2020). The state of pre-hospital emergency services in Nigeria: A narrative review. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13(1), 1-9. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Pamaong, M. T. P., Yildiz, A., & Shaw, R. (2025). Evolution of Disaster Education in the Schools: The Experience of Asia and the Pacific Region. In Two Decades from the Indian Ocean Tsunami: Key Challenges and Advancements (pp. 183-197). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Pandey, C., & Basu, M. (2022). Effectiveness of a school-based training programme in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid for high school students in urban India: A quasi-experimental study. BMJ Open, 12(5), e058263. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058263 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Seki, Y., & Sato, T. (2024). Long-term impact of repeated "Bosai" (disaster preparedness) education on student evacuation behavior and risk perception: A longitudinal study in Sendai, Japan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 15(1), 132–145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-024-00540-2 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Silvia, W. et al. (2023). Risk communication and community engagement with vulnerable groups: Perceptions of social-services CSOs during Covid-19, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 94, 2023, 103817, ISSN 2212-4209, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103817. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Takeuchi, Y., & Tanaka, M. (2020). The role of school-based disaster education in community resilience: A comparative study of three towns in Fukushima Prefecture. Environmental Hazards, 19(5), 506–523. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. UNESCO & UNICEF. (2021). Comprehensive school safety framework 2022-2030. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Van der Velden, M. W. A., Ringburg, A. N., Bergs, E. A., Steyerberg, E. W., Patka, P., & Schipper, I. B. (2008). Prehospital interventions: time wasted or time saved? An observational cohort study of management in initial trauma care. Emergency Medicine Journal, 25(7), 444-449. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Xu, W., Wang, Z., & Liu, Y. (2021). Integrating public health emergency preparedness into medical and public health education: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 707902. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Yusuf, R., Fajri, I., & Gani, S. A. (2022). Disaster education in disaster-prone schools: a systematic review. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 1041, No. 1, p. 012034). IOP Publishing. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Impact of Ownership Structure on Dividend Payout Policy of Listed Plantation Companies in Sri Lanka
• Urban Sustainability in North-East India: A Study through the lens of NER-SDG index
• Performance Assessment of Predictive Forecasting Techniques for Enhancing Hospital Supply Chain Efficiency in Healthcare Logistics
• The Fractured Self in Julian Barnes' Postmodern Fiction: Identity Crisis and Deflation in Metroland and the Sense of an Ending
• Impact of Flood on the Employment, Labour Productivity and Migration of Agricultural Labour in North Bihar