GMIA,
Good for you! I wish I had the guts to do what you have. Like many of us here, I now always have some worries for my security. Looks as if you're the first of those I forecast would be leaving and it's ironic that it also comes as the result of another thing I mentioned - Bristow's cynical refusal to do anything about providing proper healthcare for their employees in Nigeria whilst they are there. There are a (very) few decent clinics in the country with well-trained doctors who also have paramedic training to enable them to give proper treatment for things such as gunshot wounds and critical illnesses. CHC, as has been said, fulfils the duty of care to its employees far better, with night standby vehicles and drivers at its accommodation, proper night call-out procedures with a 24 hour manned radio room and armed MOPOL available to escort any sick staff to hospital by day or night. Many people in Bristow have not even got an idea of where they will be taken, or where they should take their colleagues in the event they fall sick outside working hours. Despite being a large city, Port Harcourt is poorly served for medical facilities to treat anything other than pregnancy or malaria. Some hospitals may have good facilities, but they don't have the trained staff to use them 24/24 and many Nigerian hospital staff appear to have little interest in the welfare of their patients (and here I speak from bitter and unforgettable experience
). Even if someone is taken to a hospital, he is often left there with no security whatsoever. as far as I know there is only one clinic in Port Harcourt which has a helipad available 24/24 because it's lit, is secure (because it's inside the most secure living area in Port Harcourt), and has properly trained, caring paramedic staff always on call. If you work for a company which is not using that facility in the present security situation, I'd suggest you write to someone in senior management and ask why it is failing in its duty of care to you when such a facility is available and informing them that you hold them fully responsible if something should happen to you if they fail to respond. Put it in writing and make sure you get a reply, so you have something to refer to later if the worst happens.
GMIA, I think you'll be the first of many unless companies stop just coming up with feeble excuses and start taking security seriously rather than just paying lip service to it.
Oh, and if anyone thinks that CHC is whiter-than-white in this respect, maybe their employees should start asking when they're going to stop leaving for work at the same time every day. They talk of the new secure Death camp, but that's all they do -talk. Have their security advisors carried out a safety assessment of their present accommodation (it should make amusing reading if they have, because security their is a sick joke
). Accommodation was available at the new Intels camp more than a year ago (still is, I believe), but they're just constantly being put off with architects impressions of how nice things will be years down the road when they move.
It's only a matter of time now before helicopters sit out on the ramp in the morning due to the lack of crews rather than the Harmattan
