SAFETY AWARENESS OF EMERGENCY AMONG STUDENTS OF A STATE UNIVERSITY IN NORTHWESTERN NIGERIA
Abstract
Nigeria has had its own fair share of both natural andman-made disasters in recent times. Kaduna state is one
of the states that have experienced such problems. The
aim of this study is to elicit the socio- demographic
characteristics, power of observation, personal safety
measures, availability of some emergency facilities and
ability to seek for assistance in an event of emergency or
disaster. It was a cross sectional descriptive study carried
in March 2014. Majority (82.7%) of the respondents were
male students of Kaduna State University, whose mean
age was 22.6 ± 2.8 years and age range of 18 to 28
years. The power of observation among the students was
poor and so was the basic knowledge of first aid. Only
8.3% and 31.4% reported seeing fire extinguisher and
buckets full of sand in and around buildings. Similarly,
only 29.0%, 31.0%, 14.8% and 6.5% of the students had
the phone numbers of ambulance service provider,
federal road safety office, fire service office and the chief
security officer of the university. There is the need to
create awareness and knowledge on emergency/disaster
as well as basic first aid practices amongst the students
who can be change agents and are likely to influence
others.