SAFETY AWARENESS OF EMERGENCY AMONG STUDENTS OF A STATE UNIVERSITY IN NORTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria  has  had  its  own  fair  share  of  both  natural  and
man-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.