Eighty paramedics and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) patrol operatives from the North-East and North West are currently undergoing capacity building training on saving lives and reducing road crashes.
The FRSC corps marshal, Mr Dauda Biu, while declaring a three-day capacity- building training opened in Kano yesterday, said the objective was to retool knowledge and zeal of personnel in life-saving rescue operations.
Biu said the training would focus on strengthening the capacity of FRSC paramedics, operational personnel and officers to meet the goals of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety, in saving the lives of crash victims on Nigerian roads.
The FRSC boss, represented by assistant corps marshal, Corps Project Implementation, Clement Oladele, said the training would bridge the gaps in the Corps rescue operations.
“This training is to enhance capabilities of FRSC personnel in two crucial areas – crash scene management and administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
“Our main goal is to save lives and prioritise how casualties and injured victims are professionally evacuated to hospitals for immediate medical attention.
“The corps has long been at the forefront of efforts to rescue crash victims and create safer roads in Nigeria.
“We have also partnered with Ford Foundation and this invaluable support has availed personnel the opportunity to receive world class training and acquire essential skills,” he said.
Biu explained that the training covered a comprehensive curriculum reflecting the commitment of the corps to equip its personnel with knowledge, skills and confidence to excel in the demanding field of road safety and crash response.
He added that the training also included the female personnel, who as part of the consideration for selection, were nominated to enable them to attend more professionally, to children and women victims of crashes on the road.
“We put into consideration women’s dignity that needs to be more protected when our female personnel attend to female crash victims.
“The impact of this training on participants will undoubtedly be profound in enhancing their ability to administer life saving measures promptly and effectively,” he said.
The FRSC boss advised participants to key into the training and use same knowledge practically in their various commands and units in the zones.
“We are charging the participants to take the training seriously and put to practice all they have learnt as the corps expects to see renewed zeal to attend to rescue and do it professionally.
“The corps is grateful to Ford Foundation for supporting FRSC in this important training, which will involve all the units and commands within the zones in the country,” he said.
The regional director, Ford Foundation, West Africa, Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, said the Foundation valued the works of the FRSC and recognised that the work could not be done by government agencies alone.
He said it required support like the capacity building initiative to improve quality of first responses in emergencies.
One of the paramedics and patrol operatives undergoing the training, Dalhatu Hussaini, from Taraba Command, thanked FRSC and Ford Foundation for the exercise and promised to make use of the skills being taught, when he returned to his command. (NAN)
