By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
The acting Secretary of the Red Cross in Kogi State, Mal. Abubakar Abdullahi, has called on Nigerians to dedicate part of their spare time to humanitarian activities, helping to alleviate the suffering of crisis victims.
He gave the advice on Saturday while addressing officers and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kogi State Command, during a first aid training organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Our correspondent reports that the 12-day exercise, the first of its kind in the history of the NSCDC in Kogi State, was conducted in partnership with the Nigeria Red Cross Society and involved 200 participants.
Abdullahi described first aid exercise, championed by the Red Cross, as vital in alleviating the suffering of crisis or disaster victims and urged the public to participate in such humanitarian efforts to support the organization’s mission and objectives.
The acting secretary emphasized that the Red Cross is not a profit-driven organization but noted that those who engage in humanitarian service often receive moral recognition and appreciation from society.
He advised the participants to share the knowledge and skills gained during the training with the wider community when needed.
Abdullahi also encouraged them to continue learning about first aid by engaging in research to enhance their ability to assist disaster victims effectively, adding Red Cross is open to all, irrespective of tribe, religion, profession and other divisive expressions.
He assured that the exercise marks the beginning of such initiatives for security agencies in Kogi State but emphasized that they must actively request similar training, as the NSCDC did.
In her brief remarks at the conclusion of the exercise, the Commandant of the NSCDC Kogi State Command, Esther Akinlade, expressed gratitude to the organizers and assured them that the command would fully appreciate and utilize the opportunity.
Sharing his experience in an interview with our correspondent, one of the participants, DSC. Aliyu Abdullahi , described the training as “highly encompassing”.
DSC Abdullahi, who is also the public relations officer for the command in the state said:”We have been able to learn what we did not know before regarding first aid through this training.
“A lot of things have been inculcated in us that today,it will not only be beneficiary to us on the job, even at home.”
He thanked the organizers for deeming it fit to give him and other colleagues, knowledge that would be useful to them ,”today and tomorrow.”
Also speaking with The Reporters, the acting secretary recalled that the training is the first of its type being organized by the organizers for the state command of NSCDC since the creation of kogi state in 1991.
Regarding his impression of the training, Abdullahi described it as “a good one,” emphasizing that it marked the beginning of direct, one-on-one interaction with the state command of NSCDC in a roundtable discussion—the first of its kind since Kogi State’s creation in 1991.
He explained that the training aimed to remind people of common emergency situations, stating, “As long as human beings exist, the need for emergency intervention will not end until the end of the world. It came up at the right time and in the right direction.”
Our correspondent reports that participants, drawn from the 21 local government area offices of of the state command of NSCDC, were taught how to safe and resuscitate victims in various crisis situations to avoid causality, among others.
