The Federal Government has commenced moves to operationalise Nigeria’s 112 national emergency number, with Vice President Kashim Shettima directing relevant agencies to develop a comprehensive roadmap for its nationwide rollout.

The directive is aimed at transforming the recently approved universal toll-free emergency number from a policy decision into a fully integrated national response system capable of providing Nigerians with swift access to emergency services.

To fast-track the process, the government has constituted a committee comprising the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other relevant agencies to finalise the implementation roadmap and standard operating procedures for consideration and formal endorsement by the National Economic Council (NEC).

NEC had recently approved 112 as Nigeria’s single universal toll-free emergency number, replacing the multiplicity of emergency lines operated by different agencies and jurisdictions.

The initiative is expected to simplify access to emergency assistance and improve response coordination in situations ranging from fire outbreaks, road crashes and medical emergencies to security incidents, kidnapping and other life-threatening situations.

Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ meeting on the National Emergency Number 112 Project, Shettima charged the committee to draw from global best practices in developing a clear and workable implementation framework.

He also urged the stakeholders to move quickly from deliberations to concrete action, stressing that the success of the initiative would ultimately depend on adequate funding and sustained institutional commitment.

“Let’s make progress so that whatever time we have spent here is worth spending. And most importantly, the engine is finance. It is resources to drive the process. And I want to assure you that we will get the resources,” the Vice President said.

Shettima directed the committee to conclude the roadmap and standard operating procedures for formal presentation to NEC, assuring the stakeholders that the necessary resources would be made available once the implementation framework was sufficiently developed.

The Vice President’s intervention underscores the administration’s effort to build a coordinated emergency response architecture in which citizens would no longer need to identify the appropriate government agency before seeking urgent assistance.

The Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, who expressed the full support of the Nigeria Police Force for the initiative, described the adoption of 112 as a “significant step towards ensuring that citizens have a simple and reliable means of accessing emergency assistance.”

Disu noted that under the current system, a person confronted with an armed attack, road accident, fire outbreak, medical emergency, kidnapping or another life-threatening incident could be confronted with the additional challenge of determining which agency to contact.

“With 112, one number should provide access to the appropriate response,” he said.

Earlier, the Personal Assistant to the President on e-Governance in the Office of the Vice President, Mrs Lydia Aina, said Nigeria’s emergency response architecture currently spans multiple agencies, systems and jurisdictions, resulting in fragmentation in the way emergencies are received, coordinated and addressed.

She said the objective of the 112 initiative was to move the country from fragmented emergency response structures to a coordinated and eventually fully integrated national framework.

According to her, the stakeholders’ meeting was focused not merely on the emergency number itself but on building the institutional architecture that would make it functional when Nigerians dial 112.

“The system behind the process, including the people, the agencies, the standards that make the number actually work when citizens dial it,” she said.

Aina said the next phase was to translate the policy into an actionable programme with defined milestones, identifying six immediate priorities, beginning with governance.

“Our job now is to turn it into an actual working programme with milestones. So, we have identified six immediate priorities. First, governance. We need a clear structure of who’s responsible for what,” she explained.

Other stakeholders who pledged the support of their respective agencies included the Director-General of NEMA, Mrs Zubaida Umar; Corps Marshal of FRSC, Shehu Mohammed; and Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, among others.

The proposed national emergency system is expected to provide a common access point for emergency calls while enabling the relevant response agencies to coordinate interventions more efficiently, potentially reducing delays at a critical moment when minutes can determine outcomes.