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Media Concept Limited, a division of the Cornfield Group, has partnered with the Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON) and the Nigerian Police to aid recovery and tracking of stolen vehicles.
The initiative was birthed when the three institutions entered into a strategic partnership with signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday, June 15 2017, to curb vehicle-related crimes in Nigeria.
“The collaboration between the police and AMDON would help dealers clarify if any vehicle has been stolen before being purchased,” said Ayotunde Omodeinde, Lagos State Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of ICT.
“Oftentimes, stolen vehicles find their way to car dealers. When we trace such stolen vehicles to car dealers, the car dealers will lose the money and have many inconveniences,” Omodeinde said.
“The concept is a wonderful idea that will help security of vehicles in the country. A platform like this will prevent car snatchers from having a field day in Nigeria,” he said.
The parties and other security experts were of the view that the new development, built into the Police Biometric Central Motor Registration (PoliceBCMR), would help prevent the prevalence of car snatching in Nigeria.
PoliceBCMR is a solution designed to capture vehicle information and biometric data of the vehicle owners for easy verification of vehicle registration, authentication of vehicle ownership, theft control and overall crime prevention purposes. The car security concept designed by Media Concepts, a consultancy firm, is capable of assisting security operatives put an end to the era of car snatching and auto-theft in Nigeria, analysts say.
Jibiola Adedoyin, president, AMDON, in his address, said the association services majority of car owners in the country. “The partnership in this concept will save auto dealers time and energy searching for stolen vehicles,” he said.
According to him, stolen vehicles are sometimes brought to auto dealers for sales, with complete documentations. Our members who bought stolen vehicles are either chased out of business or out of town for crimes they knew little about. This partnership would help weed out bad eggs among motor dealers. It is a win-win situation for buyers, sellers and the police with this concept,” Adedoyin said, adding that this would enable car dealers to operate without fear.
Tope Agbeyo, chairman, Cornfield Group, said the signing of the MoU was a giant step towards safeguarding all issues surrounding ownership of vehicles in Nigeria. “In vehicular crimes, people steal cars to either use or sell them. A life could have been taken in the process of snatching it.”
According to him, the PoliceBCMR data are stored in an optional Smart Card that would be issued on request, and could be verified from a database that contains all documentation and status of the vehicles at point of sales. “I can assure you that the Smart Card and the PoliceBCMR portal are well secured,” he said.
Experts further stress the need for observance of basic canons of taxes such as certainty, adding that it was important to have the data of number of properties with building approvals.
Sani Abiola, legal expert and tax consultant, said, “I do not understand why we register mobile assets and why a lot people will find it difficult to register their immobile assets.”
“Not everybody is lucky in their lifetime to have a landed property and I can’t agree more with the fact that we just need to do more with registration titles. One basic principle of taxation is certainty. The problem in Nigeria is that our laws have been existence for years and we have not bothered to leverage on subsidiary sources of law in order to bring about certain things. This calls for planning, “ Abiola, who is a university professor, said.
Odinaka Anudu & Seyi John Salau
