The lack of flight following is not so surprising in this part of the world. And if this was the case here, it was far from the only one.
It's a constant struggle to get properly trained radio operators with a proper flight following on operation sites .
Very often oil companies argue that they cannot afford a full time radio operator for this service.(poor them !)
On long distance flights ( i.e deepwater ops) operators must rely on a flight following based on HF communications, wich is far from ideal. Another way, is an equipment based on immarsat C and GPS ( like the "capsat") but it involves important installation and operating costs that few wants to spend.
As for search and rescue, there is absolutly nothing efficient to expect from neighbouring countries of the gulf of guinea, and a rescue plan has to be organized by operators themselves. Here,when we talk about winch or "HERDS" , equipment and training recurency becomes a problem mainly if it has to be performed at night!
This of course could be done and organized properly but nobody seems to have the wish to do it ( operators or those poor oil companies)
Once again providing everything looks nice with HSE and other rubbish matters, silver brains are happy.