Well it looks as if 2007 has got off to a good start in Nigeria!
. Most of we aviators are sitting around seeing little but Harmattan and wondering if we're going to get out on leave okay/get back from leave okay/just plain old get out and fly again
. This has to be one of the worst Harmattans in recent years. The Harmattan has but one benefit really - if we can't fly nobody has to worry about how we can manage to get all the flying done when we don't have enough pilots to man all the aircraft. The trouble is that the Harmattan will eventually go away - the pilot shortage won't
.
Meanwhile, the local militants have been hard at work. The 5 hostages taken from Brass are now spending their 41st day in captivity, with no change in MEND's demands for the Nigerian government to free a former state governor and an accused terrorist. 5 Chinese were also kidnapped, but their abductors have now demanded an unspecified ransom. It's been a bad year for the military too. Near Ughelli 5 soldiers and a Shell employe were killed and 4 soldiers are still missing. They were escorting the Shell employee along the Ughelli - Patani road when they were captured and taken into the bush where they were murdered. This is supposedly a revenge killing for a number of local youths who were killed by the police as armed robbers. Meanwhile, the Navy continues to have its personnel and gunboats captured by militants in the swamp area, with another 2 Navy and an unspecified number of SSS personnel captured by terrorists in 7 speedboats near Soku yesterday. This is all happening while the Ijaw National Council claims that it is working secretely to 'dissuade' the culture of kidnapping foreign workers, because it makes Nigeria look bad in the eyes of the international community. Never mind, the Minister of Aviation has severly criticised the staff of Virgin Atlantic and BA for being rude to Nigerian passengers - it's good to see that the government has got its priorities right
In Port Harcourt there have been long queues at some supermarkets as some expats are being bussed to get their shopping in large groups with armed police and military escorts. The Rivers State Police Commissioner has made a directive to landlords in the state not to accommodate any foreigner without the knowledge of the command. He said that the action was to prevent the kidnapping of the foreigners by militants. The commissioner said, ”Members of the public are hereby strongly advised to desist from accommodating foreigners without informing the police. The measure is to ensure that the militants do not use them for a ransom". As the police are suspected to be in collusion with some of the kidnappers this would seem to be a matter of providing a nice map of where to go and pick-up the next kidnap victim
Never mind, CHC think an extra US$7,700 a year, and Bristow think a change to 6/6 and an extra US$5,000 a year (plus a few bits and pieces) is enough to persuade outsiders to go and doubters to stay in a country which is now classed as one of the 10 most dangerous in the world for expat kidnappings. At those rates, I guess they'll be manning a few ancient helicopters with a few ancient (no offense NEO
) diehard pilots and engineers before too long.
chuks,
Sounds as if you're off to have fun then
. What happened to the evenings in lonely African desert wastes, sitting out in your sleevless anorak and listening to the music of Diabate? Is this to be just a short interlude en-route to the sandpit? A few months of that will be good for your soul! All old enmities will rapidly be forgotten and before you know it you'll be back in the BRC, arms round the shoulders of a well-known German test pilot, reminiscing about the good old days and sinking more than a few cold Gulders as you sink back into the bosom of your African family