The current recession in Nigeria is anticipated to have a
multiplier-effect in criminal activities, cybercrime and general insecurity. Many
people have lost their jobs and businesses have collapsed while prices of
goods, food stuffs in the market have doubled if not tripled. Beyond this, we
also know that so-called ‘’ember months’’ usually witness high crime rates as
folks try to ‘meet up’ for the income that was not forthcoming during the last
three quarters of the year. Hence, it is not common to hear of random ritual
killings, gruesome killings, traffic accidents during this time of the ‘’ember
months’’.
Kidnapping for ransom and extortion in Nigeria is undoubtedly under-reported.
To give us an idea of the trend in kidnappings in Nigeria, in addition to other
high profile and random kidnappings in Nigeria, just a few days ago, the wife
of the Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Mrs. Emefiele was reportedly kidnapped
and later rescued. Granted that the
Nigeria Police and other security agencies are mandated to protect Nigerians
and residents, we all know that the high rate of insecurity across the country
means the security agencies cannot be everywhere at the same time. In other
words, the security agencies are somewhat stretched right now hence private
citizens are encouraged to play their own role by been security, safety
conscious and alert!
Upsurge in Kidnappings, Ritual
Killings
There are reports of rise in kidnappings, ritual killings, disappearances
or missing persons in parts of Nigeria. To guard against falling victim,
1.
Please desist from night travel
or travelling very early in the morning.
2.
Do not accept food or drink
from strangers when on a journey together.
3.
Be careful before boarding a
vehicle. Ensure you board a vehicle from designated motor parks. We know things
are rough but by all means, avoid lifts or hitchhiking with strangers.
4.
If you enter a vehicle and feel
uncomfortable or uneasy, trust your gut instinct and alight immediately.
5.
Be wary of taxis, especially
the unmarked ones. If must take a taxi, preferably take the one driven by a
relatively elderly fellow. Restraint and responsibility comes with age.
6.
Apart from immediate family members,
don’t discuss the itinerary of your journey with strangers or outsiders, even
house-helps. This has led to kidnap incidents.
7.
Bike (Okada), Keke NAPEP,
otherwise known as ‘’Marwa’ have sent some people to their early graves. If you
must take any of these, tell the rider/driver to ride/drive safely.
8.
Beware of traffic robberies
which tend to be prevalent in some hotspots. When in a traffic, wind up your
glasses and avoid patronizing traffic hawkers, some of them don’t mean well.
9.
Desist from keeping personal
effects, gadgets, phones or jewelries where they can be exposed in your vehicle.
10.
Be very vigilant when you
approach so-called ‘roadblocks’ mounted by security agents Policemen, Road Safety
(FRSC), LASTMA officers’ et al. Some of them may be criminals masquerading as
security agents. Don’t allow them jump into your vehicle.
11.
Please ensure you have your
driver license and that your vehicle papers are complete (perhaps photocopies) and
give to security, road traffic agents with your glass slightly wound down.
12.
While driving, be observant and
sensitive to other drivers around you as some criminals, potential kidnappers
are known to intentionally hit your vehicle from behind to make you come down.
13.
Be careful where you sit in a
public bus. Be wary when someone (possibly suspicious) already seated before
you wants to adjust so you can go inside and have you sandwiched in-between
them.
14.
Don’t open doors for strangers
into your house and don’t stay late in parties or clubs.
15.
If your generator goes off
unexpectedly at night, please don’t rush out to see what happened. It may be bait
by criminals.
16.
Sensitize your neighbours about
security issues.
17.
To know more about kidnapping
hotspots and dynamics in Nigeria, read - Nigeria’s
Thriving ‘Kidnapping Enterprise’; How To Arrest The Scourge. And for security
and safety tips to forestall kidnapping, read
- 27 Security, Safety Tips To Prevent, Survive A
Kidnapping Incident.
Financial Security and Intelligence:
1.
Avoid making phone calls
discussing money issues openly as you don’t know who is listening. Seldom
flaunt your expensive gadgets – phones, toys etc. Possibly put your phones are
on silence and use a hands free device or earphone to answer your calls when
you are in an unsecure environment.
2.
Thank goodness for cashless economy,
you don’t really carry so much cash around. Similar to this, don’t also carry
all your ATM cards with you. You can have a basic bank account for immediate
upkeep and keep the other ATM cards in a safe place at home.
3.
Please, keep your debit card pin
codes and tokens safe and don’t let strangers be too close when you punching
your pin codes in ATMs. You can politely ask them to give you some space.
4.
Be wary of using ATMs at nights
or in secluded/lonely environments. Be careful helping people to withdraw money
from ATMs, some may have stolen the debit card and if you assist them, the CCTV
camera will pick your face as one of the culprits.
5.
Don’t leave all your money in a
single bank account, spread it and set a daily withdrawal limit on your
account.
6.
It is possible, doable to clone
ATM or debit cards. Personally, I have never used my debit card to shop online
in Nigeria and I am not in a hurry to do so. If you must shop online, don’t enter
your card details on websites, point of sale, POS, platforms that is not secured.
A secured website must have https. The last ‘s’ denotes ‘secure’. There are
also POS terminals where if you swipe your card, your card details are
automatically extricated. Be careful who you give your ATM card 2to make withdrawals
for you. They may return your card but your details are gone.
7.
In this age of ubiquitous
sports betting and online/offline gambling platforms, please be careful not to
get addicted to it if you can’t avoid it completely.
8.
Finally, the Bible implores us
to, ‘’Watch’’ and ‘’Pray’’. Perhaps students of theology will explain to us why
‘’watch’’ precedes ‘’pray’’.
Please promptly report any strange, suspicious movement, activity or
security breach in your area to the Police.
Here are the contact details of the various Police PROs across
Nigeria:
For Lagos State, the
emergency police numbers are: 08063299264,
08127155071, 08079279349, 08065154338, 08127155150, 07035068242 and 08060357795.
You can also call 767 and 112; both are Lagos State emergency
phone numbers.
Written
by:
Don
Okereke
(Security
Consultant/Adviser, Background Check Specialist, Writer)
Follow me on Twitter: @donokereke
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