Correct me if Im wrong and no doub't some one will but was it not that wonderful employee caring company Bristow who implemented at great expense an AMOURED package to there mini bus after one got shot up.
" Curtains " at the windows so the nasty AK47 packing man could not see in wasn't it.
The Julius Berger expats were travelling in an armoured Merc G escorted by 2 dozen+ soldiers, and look what happened. Bristow is smarter than that: Pack all your staff into a clapped out Toyota Minibus, let them take the same route at the same time every day, a pick up truck with 2 Mopol sporting Nike running shoes and uniforms that are attached with velcro to their area boys outfit underneath, wielding a wip and stick at unsuspecting passers by...the bad guys immediately smell a rat: This surely is a trap of some sort! Probably thought out by security advisers, who are better paid than the pilots/engineers who seem to be happy enough to accept this arrangement without complaining.
Sasless, very true !! I wonder if that Dornier pilot kept the bullet for "posterity"
Things not looking good at Eket, a lot of people applying elsewhere as they can't see any improvements in the pipeline and don't hold out any hope of a transfer to a "nice" operation. After all, who would replace them ?
The pay review delay has sealed it for at least three guys. Good old HR
I know about the 3 who left earlier in the year, the one who quit last month and the 2 new guys - is there another now as well? Is it HR who have asked for a pay review just days after it should all have been completed? Nothing surprises me any more. Too many companies run by guys in sharp suits all with the gelled hair, warm smiles MBAs and absolutely no people skills or CDF Whatever happened to the personnel managers we used to have who actually knew the people with whose fate they were dealing. Naturally these HR geniuses are accountable to nobody and have the gift only of expanding their own empires and importance. The people who stay on at Eket have to struggle with the increasing workload imposed by these mental pygmies every day, while they sit around in their comfortable, air-conditioned offices drinking real coffee, making sure they get a good lunch break in the (subsidised) staff canteen . I pity the new MD, he's going to find it hard to get a good profit-related bonus with an operation which will be incapable of operating soon. Engineering shortages are even more critical than pilot shortages right now and an 'initiative' telling personnel they have to wait yet again, at the same time as new threats are issued against expatriates and governments issue warnings to their nationals to leave the Niger delta area, serve yet again to prove to many that their services are not really valued, in fact the statement by Richard Burman already mentioned on this thread, merely shows that the senior managers believe that the services of personnel in Nigeria are over-valued. It's interesting to note that several of the pilots who have quit have done so to go to Abu Dhabi Aviation, despite the money being less and the accommodation worse than in Eket. It seems that there are quite a number of job vacancies now in Angola, especially with their oil output now exceeding that of Nigeria. It seems that Eket is getting close to the point at which normal service will not be resumed as soon as possible, but there's no rush is there, it's just pilots and engineers and they're ten a penny - why I juts bet that management has had to reinforce their desks to withstand the weight of the applications of adequately qualified personnel willing to go to Nigeria
Reckon the absence of pilots for Eket is indicative of the workload being carried by the stalwart HR types.....or simply the absence of human resources for them to manage?
After you beat me out of that generator deal I really shouldn't even be speaking to you, so to speak, but...
As to the gunfight at the Chicken Tetrazzini Corral on 10 September 2001:
One of the other two pilots is going to keep his bullet (fragment, I think it is,) since it's embedded in his lower back in a place where it's riskier to try to remove it than to just leave it there. A little to one side and he'd be living life in a wheelchair. Or a little to the other and he might have bled to death instead of just making a real mess in the back of that Ssangyong bus. I gave him some first aid but shock had made him stop bleeding on his own by the time I got his pants down.
The other pilot has recovered from his leg wound, I think. Again, he was lucky not to have been more seriously wounded.
The driver did a great job in that even though he was really scared he stayed at the helm and responded to my shouts of "Go! Go! Go!"
The engineer next to him and the one down the back were both too frightened to be much use to anyone but that is life. I guess no one had ever shot at them before?
In the immediate aftermath one of our managers was brushing the back of my shirt, when I asked him why. He said, "You have something on the back of your shirt, lint or something," when we just thought I had brushed up against something. I didn't think about it any further at the time.
I was in the very same bus on the way to the BRC from the airport, returning from leave following this palaver, when I was sat right behind the seat I had occupied during the shooting incident. I then noticed a tiny hole in the seat back covering and another tiny hole in the seat back facing. Connecting the dots showed that a bullet fragment must have gone slanting across my shoulders as I was bent over keeping my head down.
I knew about the bullet through the headrest, the bullet through the windscreen and the bullet that went just past my ankles but I had missed this other bullet fragment. Once I saw the holes then I knew that the lint on my shirt must have come from seat upholstery blown out by that fragment, definitely "the one with my name on it."
Normally one of my engineer friends would sit next to me but he had decided to have the full English breakfast and come on the 0900 bus that day. Otherwise I expect one or the other of us would have been hit too. So much for fate, eh?
I told this story to a German friend when he just looked at me and asked, "Why are you still working there?" All I could do was shrug. Well, I suppose it had something to do with money... There is a lot more to it than that but money talks. It is just that it probably doesn't talk as loudly as your average manager thinks it does! You need to live to spend it.
I am working in North Africa now, out in the Sahara flying a Twin Otter that is based at a bush strip. The locals are much easier to work with than Nigerians and it's much safer here but it is still Africa. Management, well, it is still aviation with all the problems trying to squeeze a buck out of this business.
On the whole, yes, I am much happier now, not wondering when the next attack might come. That is to say, in Isolo we would go right past the same corner there by Chicken Tetrazzini in the same bus at almost the same time of day, when all that had changed was that now we had the famous Kevlar curtains. That really was pretty lame, yes, given that armoured vehicles are available.
Another thing was that the account of what happened was rearranged so that we were shot up driving away, when the reality was that those clowns were just going to keep shooting until they were out of ammo, I think. I counted about ten shots before I thought, "Well, no sense hanging around any longer, I think." These guys must have failed Armed Robbery 101 and got a "Must Do Better" in Basic Marksmanship, not that I am complaining about that.
Until it happens to you there is some mechanism that lets you think it isn't going to happen to you. Afterwards it becomes much harder to carry on.
Good luck to all of you still carrying on. In fact, if the deal hadn't fallen through I was headed back yet again but then they knocked that one on the head. I found that I really didn't mind all that much. I think you will find that most of the guys who have left find that life outside is better than life inside so that you might want to think about leaving while the leaving is good.
The last time I heard an ex-Bristow pilot utter that same comment...."You have to be alive to spend the money!" was in reference to the maintenance standard of the S-76 Fleet in Nigeria.
Last I heard he is alive and well complaining about how amorous his Missus is despite not having that bountiful pay check to play with.
I think GMIA is talking figuratively. There are two more pilot resignations on the table at Eket but a number of pilots and engineers are seriously contemplating their future. The pay review was to have been the clincher (or not), but the delay and Richard Burman's missive on the intranet has dampened everyone's spirit before it has even been announced.
I find it hard to accept that despite business plans and quarterly/annual figures management and HR can't look ahead and see what lies around the recruitment corner, especially at places like Eket. Wasn't it an American who coined the "Our people are our greatest resource" buzz-phrase ? Whatever the figures, bonuses, targets (Zero or otherwise), without engineers to fix and pilots to fly nobody will have a job let alone a fancy office.
Surely even in a modern KPI driven company like the one Bristow and CHC are trying to become a balance has to be struck between profit and longevity ? Or perhaps in the scheme of things ExxonMobil's business is not that important to BGI globally ?
Location: Still on some west coast...but a bit further south
Age: 38
Posts: 510
famous slogans
...and who is to believe when someone says "Our people are our greatest resource"? Is it that they like to hear themselves talk when company is around?
Dilbert is not in aviation but he might as well be. He is talking with his manager about this very thing, "Our Employees Are Our Most Important Asset," when the manager tells him that they did some research and found out that "our people" are not actually the company's most important asset.
No, it turns out that MONEY is the most important asset and that the workers have been shifted further down the list. When asked where, the answer is that they are listed in sixth place, I think it is, just below paperclips.
Another time a visitor to the cubicle where Dilbert lives asks him where he is on the organigram, because he doesn't see Dilbert listed there. Dilbert tells him to see the coffee stain on the carpet because he is underneath that.
The best one from the big Chicken Tetrazzini shootout was being told later that "It was just a one-off." Managers have psychic abilities! Well, that or else it was just too darn much trouble to figure out how to deal with this new problem, I guess.
As long as there is some other sucker ready to come and take your place nothing much is going to change in Nigeria. For instance, I was with Julius Berger for about 4 years, when their politics finally got me. Well, first they got the Swedish engineer, which mattered a lot more, since he was keeping our airplanes safe to fly! Then they got me and afterwards they averaged about six months per pilot as these losers came and went. I had other fish to fry so that I really was not all that chafed, even offering to break in the new guy. It turned out that dear old Pan African had found some guy who had been flying Caravans in the States to come to Nigeria to fly a hot turboprop and this was going to be my replacement, show everyone that just about anybody could do the job (because that is exactly what management really believe). The guy didn't even last a tour before he quit saying that he didn't want to die, since he had bit off far more than he could chew. That just made the Flight Department Manager look good, that he was more capable than his pilots, all he really cared about anyway.
If you have pride, professionalism, standards, whatever... don't let that sucker you into sticking around to sort out the mess, wherever you happen to find yourself. Think "Management," sort out some deal, grab the money and run!
Scotland is going to get hotter if Jomo Gbomo has his way as can been seen from a recent MEND press release
Quote:
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been approached for it's expertise by an emerging militant group in Scotland who share the sentiments of the Scottish National Party who believe that Scotland should be independent and have full control over its North Sea oil resources like the oppressed people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Scotland would be one of the richest countries in the world if it was allowed to keep all its oil revenues - worth around $112 billion over the next six years.
Although Scotland is still relatively better off compared to many African countries, they still have among the worst health, poverty, crime and life expectancy records in the developed world - while the huge profits which could help tackle these problems go to the oil companies and Gordon Brown's government in London.
MEND supports the Scottish peoples fight for independence and the right to profit from their natural resources, rather than see it drained away by a 'foreign' country.
We share the same pain and sentiments and together we will work with freedom fighters in Scotland to emancipate it's people from the similar bondage the people of the Niger Delta face.
Jomo Gbomo
I can just see it now - non Scottish pilots living in secure compounds close to Aberdeen airport, having sent their families back home for safety, travelling in to work in armoured convoys, escorted by troops from The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Ridiculous eh, not to be taken seriously, but if it happened, with North Sea unions, companies would have to take it seriously, would provide decent housing, security and a decent salary package. But this is the reality of daily life for many in Nigeria and because the workforce is multinational, there is no organisation or union to represent their views, they are just dismissed as irrelevant by company senior managers who feel they can almost get away with what they like . Well, there's a small breeze of change blowing and more of the guys at Eket and other bases all over the Niger Delta are starting to think, like chuks, that it is better to have a decent life working elsewhere even if the money is a bit lower. In many places now, the quality of life is considerably better and the money is only a little bit lower. Remember that is better to leave a little bit late than to be late when leaving
The town was attacked 2 weeks ago and 9 people killed. It seems the local inhabitants are taking the threat seriously and thousands have already fled. One of the local youth leaders said that he has contacted all the known militant groups in the area and been assured that there was no threat.
There has also just been an attack on a houseboat at Orugiri by a large group of militants and in a fire-fight lasting more than an hour at least 5 people are reported dead.
Militants also seem incensed by British Prime Dimwitter Gordon Brown's posturing on Nigeria of late. There's no way the Nigerian government would allow any British military to be sent in as they'd probably very quickly expose the complicity of many high ranking politicians and military in the present unrest and bunkering scandals, but it gives MEND an opportunity for more publicity.
Irrespective of the actual origin of the threat to Bonny it would be prudent to be extra cautious if flying there in the next few days, even if your company has told you none of this
Location: Still on some west coast...but a bit further south
Age: 38
Posts: 510
Independence or not
and does anyone really think that all this hostility has anything to do with independence...or is a foreign power, whose name I refuse to mention, paying off the militants to clear the place in order for this foreign power to take over and scavenge the resources? Stay tuned! Soon we will be fed rice and rat meat...get my drift
Interesting theory. How about the same theme but with Nigerian politicians present and past with vested interests in perpetuating the crisis ?
Any realistic attempt at a resolution, not to mention disarming the "militants" who were probably armed by aspiring politians and rich businessmen involved in the bunkering, would need to address who/what was behind the insurrection in the first place. Those people would definitely not want those reasons to be exposed, particularly if their names and the money they made/are making were to be publicised.
The obvious poverty and lack of infrastructural investment is present all over the country in different forms. In the North they have excellent roads built by the Petroleum Trust Fund but no vehicles to use on them, in the South everyone has a car but the roads are terrible.
Apart from corruption and outright theft by "Fat Cats", those behind the glaring lack of commitment for seeking meaningful dialogue and moving toward a realistic plan for development and equality managed to frustrate Obasanjo and are now doing the same with Yar Adua. The most powerful man in Nigeria he may be, but if those around him don't want something done it will not be done.
The reasons why these people wish to perpetuate this injustice apart from self preservation are not that clear.
Why does the dog carry out his personal grooming (so to speak)?
Because he can!
I remember once visiting some retired "top shot" from the Nigeria Police in Minna. There was the sitting room with the pelmet sporting the usual rococo gilt framed chromos, the dusty fake Chippendale furniture and the big Sony TV from ten years ago with matching video player looking as if someone had been whacking them with a sandbag. Yes, all the trophies from a career of grabbing all he could, I suppose, but there he was living on a road that was more holes than road so that I wondered where he thought he was going in his Mercedes, really, even if he was willing to take his chances with the robbers.
The tragedy of the place is that people have learned from bitter experience to grab what they can for themselves. Anything shared is quickly gone, right down to the railings on the flyovers, hacked off, carted away and melted down for scrap. Check out the runway lights at Lagos: gone the same way in the early Eighties! You used to see a little heap of nuts and bolts and a fresh hole, first thing in the morning...
I seem to remember hearing how the chopper pilots were once asked to report any illegal bunkering they saw. The reports came flooding in and after a few days the next request was for them to ignore any bunkering they saw!
I shall ask my liberal family in America how to sort out the mess in Africa and get back to you with that. There is no use getting all "racist" about it, is there. I am sure the solution somehow involves sending everyone to college in America to learn Western values so that I shall probably be back to ask each of you working there for a small contribution from your huge wages.
. I pity the new MD, he's going to find it hard to get a good profit-related bonus with an operation which will be incapable of operating soon. Engineering shortages are even more critical than pilot shortages right now and an 'initiative' telling personnel they have to wait yet again, at the same time as new threats are issued against expatriates and governments issue warnings to their nationals to leave the Niger delta area, serve yet again to prove to many that their services are not really valued, in fact the statement by Richard Burman already mentioned on this thread, merely shows that the senior managers believe that the services of personnel in Nigeria are over-valued. It's interesting to note that several of the pilots who have quit have done so to go to Abu Dhabi Aviation, despite the money being less and the accommodation worse than in Eket. It seems that there are quite a number of job vacancies now in Angola, especially with their oil output now exceeding that of Nigeria. It seems that Eket is getting close to the point at which normal service will not be resumed as soon as possible, but there's no rush is there, it's just pilots and engineers and they're ten a penny - why I juts bet that management has had to reinforce their desks to withstand the weight of the applications of adequately qualified personnel willing to go to Nigeria 
famous slogans
This lush country on this infamous west coast of Africa
North Sea And Nigeria United By Mend
Watch Out For Bonny - 16 July
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