It puts the other stuff into perspective when you are told someone died. If some Nigerian gang is brutal enough to carry out such a crime, they should plan ahead for the health and welfare of their captives? It might be a good argument for trying to get the rule of law running again in the Delta but it's a bit late for that one.
'Niger Delta Frontier Force,' eh? That would be a reference to the 'West African Frontier Force,' I suppose, but were they involved in murderous kidnappings? What a cheek!
Still, the other stuff does matter, hence the on-going discussions here.
The thing that always amused me, in a cynical way, was how Shell would tighten the screws on an aviation contractor until they squeaked, as if that were to achieve something. Playing 'hard-ass,' how impressive. 'All leaves are cancelled until morale improves!' so to speak. Meanwhile you could see huge sums squandered on buying the wrong aircraft and then operating them in a somewhat inefficient way.
It's pretty interesting to see Shell hire an outside contractor to operate for them but then get their own depraved Scottish midget to set up a new ramp in a way to guarantee a taxying accident. I asked him if it might not be a good idea to cover the open ditches right 'there' so that someone strange to the place wouldn't overlook it. I was told, somewhat huffily, that everyone had been briefed on how to operate, plus there were painted lines showing which way to taxy. 'Yes, but a stranger to the place, at night in the pouring rain?' No further discussion was necessary.
I was expecting a GV to wipe itself out that way but instead it was a Hind. Of course, yes, they did cover the ditches after that, but it took an accident to make them see commonsense.
After the squeaky screwing the contractor would plead poverty with its employess when it came to such extravagances as significantly improved security after high-risk gun attack, just to name one example.
Well, first they would pooh-pooh the risks or make people like me out to be moaners (the very idea!), suggesting that someone with a proper Bob the Builder tattoo upon his nyash would just go along with whatever risks cropped up, content in the idea of maintaining the operation's profit curve and its concomitant local manager's bonus. Gotta get those priorities right! A known failing of Yrs Truly, hence my present position on the breadline.
'You should know the risks when you come out here,' was one such pearl of wisdom that burnt its way into my brain. That was after a pilot had died in a very stupid way, off-duty. That was taken to be his own fault with no further thought or action required on the part of Management. I somehow missed out on my Harvard MBA but I could still think of some obvious things to do hoping to prevent a recurrence.
Well, let's hope for a reasonably speedy conclusion to this latest abduction and then see what develops from there.