Samuel Ogunkoya’s Reskua App tackles National Safety

Samuel Ogunkoya, popularly known as Samkul and founder of Africa’s leading entertainment media platform Wahala Room, is now tackling Nigeria’s pressing personal safety challenges with his new app, Reskua.

The idea for the app came after a terrifying experience in Ajah, Lagos, in 2022. “Two guys stepped very close to me—one heavily tattooed, the other cleaner-looking—and demanded my Apple Watch and some cash,” he recalls. “One of them even picked up a sharp object and made it clear they were willing to do harm. I was shocked. If nothing had stopped them, God forbid, things could have ended badly.”

That moment made him realize the lack of emergency response infrastructure in Nigeria. “I asked myself, ‘Who do you call in a situation like this? What’s the 911 number for Nigeria?’ and does it even work?” he says.

Reskua allows users to alert trusted contacts and nearby community members in real time. “If you’re in danger, your community sees your location and hears your audio instantly. That’s the psychological shift from helpless fear to empowered caution,” Samuel Ogunkoya explains.

He adds, “We replace the uncertainty of a non-existent 911 system with the certainty of your own digital village. When people know their community has their back, they move taller and with more confidence.”

Growing up partly in Chicago and building Wahala Room in Nigeria, Ogunkoya says his experiences prepared him for this mission.

“Reskua is my pivot from reporting problems to actively solving them. I’m using the skills I learned abroad to build the digital infrastructure my people need. It’s personal because I’m one of them.”