Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Nigeria

The Good Samaritan: compassion and protection

Drawn from the Bible (Luke 10:25-37), the parable of the Good Samaritan tells of a traveller left for dead who is rescued by a stranger that tends to him and sees to his care. Beyond its religious context, it carries a universal message: the moral duty to help others in danger, through compassion and altruism.

Inspired by this principle, many so-called Good Samaritan laws have been enacted around the world to protect those who assist in good faith during an emergency from legal action. The exact scope of that protection, however, varies from one jurisdiction to another: here is what the law applicable to your region provides.

Statute citation

Governing act No dedicated Good Samaritan Act and no general duty to rescue, under either the Criminal Code (southern states) or the Penal Code (northern states). In the northern Penal Code, the sole "omission to render assistance" offence (s. 150) concerns only failing to assist a public servant, not a stranger in danger. The National Health Act 2014 (s. 20) obliges health establishments — not bystanders — not to refuse emergency treatment.
Scope of protection Dual criminal system (Criminal Code in the south, Penal Code in the north), both built on the common-law model where an omission is punishable only where a pre-existing legal duty exists (charge of a helpless person, act undertaken). No duty binds a mere bystander. Good Samaritan bills have been proposed but not enacted.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection No
No legal duty to rescue

Your protection under the law

Nigeria has no dedicated Good Samaritan Act and no general duty to rescue, under either the Criminal Code of the southern states or the Penal Code of the northern states. Both systems rest on the common-law model, where an omission is punishable only where a pre-existing legal duty exists: a volunteer rescuer is judged against reasonable, good-faith conduct. The National Health Act 2014 (s. 20) forbids health establishments — not bystanders — from refusing emergency treatment.

No duty to act, but every reason to

No duty binds a mere bystander, and Good Samaritan bills have been proposed but never enacted: in Nigeria, helping a stranger remains a personal choice. That freedom has a flip side — the law compels no one to act — but it also means that helping in good faith, carefully and within one's means, does not expose the rescuer to harsh treatment. What then decides a victim's fate is not the law, but the presence of someone who knows what to do.

Why training matters

When a heart stops beating, the chance of survival falls by roughly 10 percent per minute without resuscitation — a countdown no statute can slow. In Nigeria, a vast country where response times vary enormously, the first witness becomes the first link in the chain of survival, the one who wins the minutes emergency services cannot. Training in CPR and first aid is not answering an obligation; it is making a choice — the choice to be able to act. And that choice may one day be worth a life.