Federal Government Launches CPR Training for Health Staff, Plans Nationwide Push to Turn Citizens into Life-Savers

The Federal Government has taken a bold step toward fixing Nigeria’s emergency response gap, starting right at the heart of the health sector. On Thursday, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, officially inaugurated a comprehensive training session on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Basic Life Support (BLS) for staff at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

The move marks a shift in policy, moving life-saving skills out of the operating rooms and into the hallways of government offices. According to Dr. Salako, the initiative is a response to the rising cases of sudden cardiac arrest, which the National Council on Health recently designated as a “public health emergency.”

“Today’s event is more than just a workshop; it is a deliberate policy action,” Dr. Salako stated during the launch. “We are equipping our staff with the skills to act in those critical first four minutes when oxygen to the brain is most vital. We want a Nigeria where any citizen, regardless of their profession, knows exactly what to do when someone slumps.”

The training, supported by the Nigerian Cardiac Society (NCS), also introduced staff to the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) portable devices that can “restart” a heart during an emergency. Prof. Augustine Odili, President of the NCS, revealed that his society is currently working on a localized certification standard to ensure that the training is sustainable and high-quality across all 36 states.

Perhaps most importantly, the government announced that this is only the beginning. The goal is to “cascade” these skills into schools, marketplaces, and worship centers across the country. By building a nationwide network of trained first responders, the Ministry hopes to reduce the number of preventable deaths that occur long before a victim ever reaches a hospital.

With the first batch of Ministry staff now undergoing hands-on simulations, the message from the health authorities is clear: in a medical crisis, the person standing next to you shouldn’t just be a witness they should be a lifesaver.