The Chevening Alumni Association of Nigeria has launched a road safety initiative to train 250 community members and transport workers to provide emergency assistance to road crash victims along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway before professional responders arrive.
The initiative, known as the Lagos Road-Safety Initiative: Enhancing Community-Led Emergency Post-Crash Response, aims to reduce preventable deaths by equipping residents with basic emergency response skills during the critical first hour after a crash, commonly referred to as the “golden hour”.
According to a statement by the association’s president, Kester Osahenye, the project is supported by the Chevening Alumni Programme Fund 2026–2027, funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through the British High Commission.
The project, which will run until February 2027, will feature five training workshops at selected locations along the Lagos-Ibadan corridor, with participants expected to learn how to secure crash scenes, control bleeding, identify and support injured victims, communicate with emergency services, and facilitate safe referrals.
The association stated that the initiative was designed to address the challenges posed by traffic congestion and delays in emergency response along the busy expressway, where the immediate actions of bystanders can determine whether crash victims survive.
It added that the training will be provided free of charge, with activities beginning in October through a train-the-trainer programme for 30 peer trainers, followed by community workshops between October and December.
Refresher training is scheduled for January 2027, while a dissemination forum and webinar will be held in February to share lessons from the project.
The initiative is also expected to reach more than 11,300 people through peer-led training and awareness campaigns, supported by six short learning resources in English, Yoruba, and Nigerian Pidgin.
Speaking on the project, a trustee of the Sanitas Health and Development Foundation and 2020–2021 Chevening alumna, Dr. Kiitan Bolajoko, said the initiative was designed to equip willing bystanders with the knowledge to provide safe and timely assistance.
“As Chevening alumni, we chose this problem because we have all seen it: a crash on the expressway, a crowd of people wanting to help, and no one sure what to do while the minutes that matter slip away.
“The truth is that survival on our roads too often depends on strangers who were never shown how to act safely. This initiative treats those strangers as the first, and most important, link in the chain of care,” she said.
Bolajoko noted that the programme would complement the work of professional emergency responders rather than replace them.
“By training and trusting the people already at the scene, we are not replacing the emergency services; we are making sure that when they arrive, the victim has already been kept alive and stable by someone who knew what to do,” she stated.
The Executive Director of the Health Emergency Initiative, Paschal Achunine, said delays and uncertainty during the first hour after a road crash often contributed to preventable deaths.
“We have spent years at the point where road crashes become tragedies, and the pattern is always the same: it is not only the injury that costs lives, but also the delay and the uncertainty in the first hour,” Achunine said.
He observed that basic emergency response skills could be taught to people without medical backgrounds, adding that the initiative would help communities respond more confidently and safely before professional assistance arrived.
The Health Emergency Initiative will serve as the technical partner, providing competency-based training, practical simulations, refresher sessions, emergency referral guidance, and quality assurance.
The Sanitas Health and Development Foundation will coordinate implementation, including activity management, scheduling, administration, and reporting.
The project is being overseen by a steering committee comprising Chevening alumni with backgrounds in health, media, development, and the public sector in Nigeria and Tanzania.
The association stated that the initiative will serve as a pilot that can be adapted for other communities and states, concluding with an evaluation of results, stakeholder engagement activities, and the development of a toolkit to support wider implementation.
The project is expected to strengthen existing emergency response efforts by the Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System, particularly by improving the immediate assistance available to crash victims before ambulances and other emergency personnel arrive.
The FRSC recorded 10,446 road crashes nationwide in 2025, resulting in 5,289 deaths and 33,400 injuries, according to figures cited by the association.
The association noted that these figures underscore the need for community-based interventions to improve post-crash care and reduce preventable fatalities on Nigerian roads.
