Help Buddy Emergency Response Solution has disclosed that it plan to train over 50 million Nigerians over the next five years to become first responders, leveraging mobile phone penetration across Nigeria.
According to the founders, the initiative is a social re-engineering campaign to leverage strategically placed QR codes in public spaces, with a goal to ensure that Nigerians can easily offer emergency response from first aid to CPR, bleeding control, and how to stabilise someone until help arrives.
The founders said that the aim was to ensure that anyone, anywhere, can scan a code and instantly access life-saving emergency instructions in preparedness for an emergency that can happen anytime, anywhere and unannounced.
In support of this vision, the Help Buddy team revealed plans for the upcoming ‘Emergency Response Summit’ in collaboration with the Lagos State Government, an event that will bring together stakeholders from government, healthcare, tech, and civil society to push for nationwide adoption of first responder literacy and transformation of emergency response.
To deepen collaboration with the state government, the founding partners of Help Buddy Emergency Response Solution recently paid a courtesy visit to Akin Abayomi, the Lagos State commissioner for health.
Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, commended the technological innovation and initiative, calling it a timely and essential intervention in public health.
He affirmed the importance of building community-centred emergency solutions that do not rely solely on formal health systems.
Ademolu Owoyele, co-founder, Help Buddy and MD/CEO, Harley and Rainbow Specialized Laboratories, stated that education is a critical issue in emergency response, beyond access to ambulance.
“When you mention an emergency, people think of an ambulance — but that is only one part of the equation,” he said.
“The first and most important thing is education, because almost 9 out of every 10 Nigerians don’t know what to do in a medical emergency. But almost 100 million Nigerians own a phone. What if we could use that to close the knowledge gap and change the culture from going live on TikTok while people are dying; to knowing what to do and using your phone constructively in those crucial moments?”
Ayodotun Bobadoye, COO, GET Consortium/ co-founder, Help Buddy, stated that if people are equipped to act appropriately, many deaths in Nigeria are completely preventable. According to him, death from emergencies is becoming one of the leading causes of mortality in Nigeria.
“It’s not just the lack of equipment; it’s the lack of knowledge. In public places, people take out their phones to record, but they don’t know what to do. That’s what we’re trying to fix,” Bobadoye stated.
Oluwakolade Abayomi, co-founder, Help Buddy Emergency Response and MD, Wellane Health, clarified the intent behind the initiative. “We’re not rolling out an app just yet — intentionally.
“This is a grassroots campaign. Apps are easy to download and forget and for the elites. But with posters, with QR codes in your face, in every local government area, they are reminded daily. That’s how we build a national emergency culture.”
He added that beyond first aid instructions and specialised professional videos, Help Buddy enables users to locate the nearest ICU or ambulance point, complete with contact details — a tool that could have made the difference in recent tragic cases.
