As simple as issues of personal security ought to be, especially against the background of many tips available on it, many still make themselves vulnerable and susceptible to attack by criminals on the highway, home, office and other locations in the society.
Security experts will easily tell you that the way we conduct ourselves dictates the level of our exposure to insecurity, danger or accident. Often times we bring danger on ourselves through wrong communication or what can be referred to as unguarded communication. It is true that many Nigerians are loquacious, the exact opposite of people in many other societies, who handle personal information and security better. Such issues as traveling, financial projects and family information and data should as much as possible be kept personal. Take for example the case of traveling plan. If you plan to embark on a long journey but first take to broadcasting the intended journey to neighbours and friends, who then would you hold responsible if your house is burgled either in your absence or on the eve of your journey? .
Or you decided to withdraw a huge some of money from the bank. Must that become a news story?. I remember a friend who disclosed to his friends that he has just withdrawn a huge amount from the bank at a public restaurant in Abuja. Unknown to him, one of those at the restaurant was the leader of a robbery gang. He was trailed home and at midnight his car was burgled and the million Naira he was to travel with for a building project was carted away.
Another victim, carelessly wrote his bank ATM password and number in a piece of paper but forgot to shred it and the office cleaner picked it. Before the account owner remembered his error, a huge sum of money had been withdrawn from his account. When discussing sensitive issues on phone or in the public, including in religious places, it is advisable to be circumspect and wary of the other person. Apart from the old saying that the walls have ears, these days, the ears of men are more sensitive than microphones. l must also touch on human carelessness which has cost many their fortune . Carelessness is a state of costly personal neglect bothering on forgetfulness. It is a situation where one is disconnected temporarily I from reality. Criminals are always alert to capitalise on the carelessness of individuals. That is why it is held in security circles that over 80 per cent of robberies, burglaries and petty stealing occur as a result of human error. At another level, a man who hurriedly parked his car at a ceremony and forgot to remove the key from the ignition, whom does he hold responsible for his careless? Unfortunately, carelessness, including costly ones, are now rampant in our daily existence. There are so many instances and type of personal security negligence that deserve to be highlighted this season for our own good. Take another case of the man who left the house forgetting to switch off all electrical appliances because there was no electricity supply when he was leaving. Power supply was soon restored and because the appliances were not disconnected power upsurge damaged most of the home appliances. This seems very commonplace in our society, but it could lead to heavy personal loss and security breach. There is also the careless habit of driving into our house gate without paying attention to little security checks to see if another vehicle is trailing us either to rob or kidnap. A personal experience once reinforced for me the need to be security conscious while driving home. ln that instance, I was driving home and somehow along the road l noticed a tinted black saloon car following me. l pretended not to have noticed the vehicle, so I diverted into another road. The car continued to follow me, and even when l parked and pretended to be buying something from a street hawker, the driver of the car trailing me also parked at a distance. l alighted, locked up my doors and made a call to the FCT Police emergency room 08061581938. Immediately the driver noticed that l was making a call, he zoomed off. Unfortunately, I could not pen down the car registration number, as there was no plate number behind the car. Many people do not have the emergency number of the police in their state of residence. That is an error. This is costly over sight that people need to correct right away. There must always be a connection with the local police in the case of any emergency or accident. The days are evil, criminals are in abundance and families are daily on the receiving end of assault by criminals. High unemployment rate in the country has further aggravated criminal activities. With over 50million unemployed roaming the streets, it is doubtful if with the economic recession Nigeria would not overtake many other countries in the continent in terms of crime rate. Traveling during the festive season demand paying more attention to safety especially on the highways that are often infested with hoodlums and highway robbers. Robbers today adopt various approaches and postures. They stretch their activities from the car parks, on to the road and even at the destination point. Robbers always disguise when planning how to attack their victims but brazenly display when they are about to attack their victims. It is advisable to always avoid transporters that pick passenger along the road. Be wary. There have been instances of robbers disguising as transporters and later disarming their passengers at the middle of the highway, dispossessing them of all their belongings. At some other time, they parade around the bus park, gathering information that they transmit to their colleagues who execute their dastardly act on the high way. As for private drivers who wait along the highway to offer lift to female passengers, this is the time to refrain from that practice. The security danger in the practice is huge. Some of the ladies are agents of armed robbers posted to lure victims to be attacked along the road. The police have recorded many of such incidents over the years. As we prepare for the Christmas celebration, it is advisable to be extremely vigilant and report any suspicion to security agencies. Happy Christmas!
Congratulations!!!.
Last month, SECURITY FILE chronicled the achievements of this humble police officer with Iionistic spirit, his name is Abba Kyari whom we nicknamed “ human Ak47. Today we rejoice with him as he is promoted to a new rank as an assistant commissioner of Police. Congratulations as we urge you to continue the good work for your fatherland.