Background Check tasks parents on child kidnapping

The Managing Director, Background Check International (BCI), Mr. Kola Olugbodi has called on parents to always conduct diligent background check before employing domestic staff to avoid falling prey to child kidnappers, who now masquerade as house help.

He made this call at Background Check International’s national awareness and sensitization seminar on child kidnapping in Nigeria with the theme: ‘Averting the rising spate of child kidnapping in Nigeria,’ held at LCCI Conference and Exhibition Centre Alausa, Ikeja in Lagos.

Mr. Olugbodi emphasized that the social menace that now happens among friends, close associates and family members requires collective efforts to curtail.

“Most often, we are hurt by people very close to us, and so, parents must ensure that proper background checks are done on nannies and friends before our homes are thrown open to them because kidnappers play on people’s intelligence,” he said.

According to him, the seminar is BCI’s strategy to create and heighten public awareness about kidnapping and also proffer solutions on how to reduce the menace to the barest minimum. BCI has created a website with database features to enable victims share their experience.

“This website will aid users update similar experiences and increase awareness to avert danger when faced with similar situations,’ he said.

The guest speaker at the occasion, a former Deputy Director, State Security Service (DSS), Mr. John Aderoju, while speaking on being security alert, said that kidnappers play on people’s intelligence and capitalize on desperation.

“Don’t ever be in a hurry to give away to strangers. Kidnapping is not new in any country and no country has been able to stop the menace. What we must do as a society is to ensure security awareness education, while government should ensure that there is employment and strong legislation in place to produce a viable economy,” he said.

Explaining the power of intuition, which is a viable tool for mothers to help discern when something is not going right, Publisher, Working Moms, Mary Ikoku said: “When you get a cold feet about a decision you are about to take, then that is your intuition at work. They say women are moved by intuition, it is not always 100 percent correct but most times, it may be a part of what we need to really listen to and pay serious attention to because it helps.