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Old 26th Oct 2006, 21:51
  #1296 (permalink)  
MamaPut
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Jankara
Age: 63
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I remember, not too many years ago meeting a Shell contractor, who was doing a corrosion survey on Shell pipelines in the Niger Delta. He was telling me that he was the first person they'd ever employed to do this and some of the pipelines then were more than 25 years old.
It must be rembembered that the Nigerian government holds a 60% operating stake, through its various NNPC subsidiaries, in every oil company in Nigeria. Between them and the host communities whose land they have raped and plundered for more than 40 years, they have made the Niger Delta the mess it is today, both ecologically and politically. In any half-way civilised place the oil companies wouldn't be able to abdicate their responsibilities the way they do in Nigeria. They don't want to place their own employees in harm's way, so they expect the contractors to get out and do the dirty work for them, then say that nothing that happens to those contractors is their responsibility - BULLSH*T .

The helicopter operators seem to have adopted the same attitude to their employees. Eket staff are now staying in a hotel. That's really got the situation there under control then . Bristow pilots are working harder than ever before and still no news from dinosaur control of any changes to pay and conditions - and they wonder why they're short of crews! Guess Noddy Helder wants to keep profits really high as part of his final pay-off. How many of the Lagos dinosaurabilia have ever visited the front line (yes, literally these days) troops for a few days and got a true feeling for morale in places like Eket or Elelenwo? Still, it's certainly helping out CHC with their crewing problems .
CHC, since their take-over of Aero (actually, of course, depite what they tell their new hires, they haven't taken it over, just the old Schreiner 40% stake) have shown a naively arrogant incompetence and complete lack of sensitivity to the people they have taken over. The recent purchase of a new Stalag and a rewriting of the roster with total lack of any dialogue with all those affected, has led to even more people looking elsewhere - never mind, there will be plenty of naive, gung-ho, young shaven-heads to take their places - if they can actually hack it. Never mind, their management can at least claim they live in the same city as the troops (even if it is in a boring, very expensive, but supposedly-secure camp, miles from where the rest live).
Standards are falling in both companies (how long before Caverton is the new standard!! ) along with experience levels. The managements of both seem either terminally paralysed or uncaring about their operations in Nigeria as morale in both camps slumps to an all-time low. Yes, some of the old hard-core stay on in vain hopes of a return to the 'old days' but more people are voting with their feet as the International Crisis Group's latest report says that rising violence threatens to destabilise the country.

In summary, both Bristow and CHC managements seem to be totally paralysed and/or unaware of the increasing crisis they face as manning levels fall along with standards and security. They just don't have the b*alls any more to take urgent and drastic measures to fix the problem. The likes of Alan Bristow, Bob Schreiner et al, would have grabbed hold of the reins and done whatever was needed, but the bean-counters, yes-men, tree-huggers and bland commitee-men (and women) who run these companies these days are totally lacking the essential ingredients necessary to successfully opearate in Africa - firm and decisive leadership and moral fibre.
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