This is the second part of the last article where we highlighted ways to avoid kidnapping on Nigeria road, here are 7 more ways to avoid kidnapping in Nigeria.
1. Never use car stickers that say where you work
It is not advisable to use stickers of the place you work on your private vehicles, especially if you work at a prestigious organization. You will notice banks in Nigeria have already taken this measure as you most likely not find bank logos on their official vehicles, this is a deliberate attempt not to attract armed robbers and kidnappers.
If you must tell anyone where you work it should through your complimentary cards.
2. Never share pictures of your kids in their school uniforms or badges on Social Media.
Many Nigerian parents are guilty of this, we often get over excited to show pictures of kids first day in school or pictures of your kids having a curriculum activities in school.
Doing these can make our kids a soft target for kidnappers. Children who attend elite schools get easily exposed to these kidnappers.
3. Avoid spraying money at parties
Nigerians are generally social, we love to celebrate with friends and family when time calls for it. While attending party don’t allow the MC, DJ or the music band get you so high that you start to spray money uncontrollably, you can have the cash enveloped and have it safely delivered to the celebrant or the performing artiste.
By doing this you are not drawing attention of the audience to yourself, you never can tell the kind of people you have at an event, you could be standing next to a kidnapper. Be guided!
4. Avoid making large withdrawals via the ATM machine
The Central Bank of Nigeria has created multiple options for businesses and individuals to adopt a cashless policy. You can make payment via POS machines, Bank USSD codes and App, recently we now have e-wallets for ease of payment. You don’t need to withdraw so much money from the ATM, you can just do a transfer!
Withdrawing so much money in your wallets, if we are to look at it critically it’s not wise to withdraw say 100K via the ATM, even 50K can be too much for your wallet!
You can be trailed and robbed, and most likely kidnapped because kidnapper would look at getting the remaining balance in that account as ransom.
5. Always delete and trash your bank transaction notifications and Account balance receipt from the ATM
Whether you choose to get bank transaction notification via emails or by text messaging, its not safe to have them remain in your inbox, and the same applies to receipt of account balance gotten from the ATM machine, it should be deleted and trashed respectively.
The balance can be memorized or you check through your banking App, 80% of commercial banks in Nigeria have a functional mobile App, do well to consult your bank customer service personnel if you don’t have one yet, they have enough security features to protect your money!
6. Don’t go jogging while it’s dark
This is easy one right? It’s not safe to jog alone, even though we know it good for your body, its expose you to kidnappers or ‘ritualist’, you can’t be too confidence when its dark.
If you must jog at night, get some security details to come along, you have them tail you with your car or they jog with you to keep your company.
7. Always lock your doors
It only takes a seconds for a crime to be initiated, always keep your doors locked whether it’s during the day or at night, especially when you are the only one at home.
There is no good time to lock your doors, even when you are going out for a few minutes to put off your generator, lock the door! Criminal might be lurking around to see the doors opened waiting for that minutes. In recent times, armed robbers deliberately turn off generators to draw their victims out of their homes, so sometimes you have to be careful when you notice your generator goes off suddenly.
Another precaution is to have your generator house locked, such that the switch is beyond reach unless the locks are opened.
Watch this space for the last part of these topics, we are sure you will find them useful, please subscribe to our newsletters to get instant notification for the next article.