Stolen but recovered vehicle owner commends Traktag, police
By UKOHA KALU
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

An Abuja based business executive, Engr. Vincent Obi, has commended the Nigeria Police and the management of the nation’s foremost tracking company; Traktag Limited for the exemplary roles they played in the recovery of his stolen Toyota Corolla car.

He said, but for the incisive professional skill displayed on the recovery exercise by Traktag Limited, that he could have kissed his prized car goodbye.

In showing his deepest appreciation, he therefore, enjoined Nigerians to embrace and cultivate the habit of tracking their vehicles and always giving the police useful information to help ease their job.
Recalling details his encounter with the dare - devil robbers on that fateful Sunday, May 21, 2006 at Ayangba in Kogi State, Obi stated that the robbers, numbering about four and armed to the teeth had accosted him brusquely and snatched his car. The dexterity exhibited by the robbers and the confidence they exuded throughout the operation made him appear to lose every hope of ever seeing his cherished car again.

But few hours later, he was alerted by the control room of Traktag that his stolen car has been located and was somewhere at Gboko in Benue State. His six hours journey by road to Gboko was seemingly fruitless as the car was not in sight. Unknown to Obi, the six hours the journey took him was enough for the robbers to tow the demobilised car. The car was demobilised courtesy of Traktag icu-2 tracking device installed in the car. It was towed to Vandeiyka where they contracted an auto electrician to assist in restoring the car to life to enable them take it across the border to the Republic of Cameroun.

With the hope of recovering his vehicle gradually dimming, Obi opted to return to Abuja. No sooner did he get to Abujathan he was alerted by Traktag Limited that his car was at a location in Vandeiyka. It was at this location that the car was recovered by the police who were called. The auto electrician, saddled with the chore of rectifying it for the robbers, was also arrested. An elated Obi showered encomiums on Traktag for “doing the seemingly impossible and rekindling my faith in our country, our police and the great and professional minds behind Traktag.”

Engr. Obi’s wife, in her own response, stated that the thieves had employed a technician to remobilise the car in Gboko. When he failed to remobilise the car, it was then towed to Vandeiyka where the police got suspicious and impounded the car. She praised the Traktag device which helped in saving her husband’s life.

This incident, says Maximus Okenyi,Media Relations Manager: “ is just the latest in a series of successful stolen vehicle recoveries which would not have been possible without the use of the Traktag icu-2 vehicle tracking system among which are the recovery of N30 million in Abuja from the driver of an Abuja Green cab run by the Abuja Leasing Company, who tracks all their vehicles and manages its fleet of 500 brand new Peugeot 307 cars using the Traktag icu-2 system.”

In a related incident, a Toyota Pick-up truck stolen in Onitsha from another Traktag subscriber Mr Chinedu of Etsco Limited, was located, immobilised and recovered within 24 hours with the aid of the tracking system. Chinedu owns his Traktag base station and was able to direct the police to recover his car himself!

Observers are of the view that the private initiative of Traktag Limited, providers of this invaluable service, has served to take away the fear of loss of motor vehicles to bandits for its subscribers. Obafemi Giwa-Amu, Managing Director of Traktag Limited, commenting on the incidents stated that the mission of Traktag Limited is to make Nigeria a safe place through the use of modern technology.

He disclosed that because of the proven track record, and its efficacy in reducing the risk of motor vehicles theft, “the Nigerian Insurers Association has recently appointed Traktag Limited as its partner, resulting in greatly reduced insurance premiums for vehicles fitted with the Traktag icu-2 system. This means that all cars comprehensively insured will be tracked to reduce car loss totally. A subscriber that fails to track his car will be made to pay a much higher premium starting July 2006.”