anjo,
Are you sure your information is up to date? I know the families aren't coming back as yet, but I thought other expat workers were now being allowed back after today.
The latest information is that the Lebanese man who was kidnapped escaped after guards holding them were bribed with more than $1 million by Bayelsa State officials acting for AGIP. MEND are said to be very angry about this, have threatened other reprisals against AGIP and the State government and said that they will now definitely not release the remaining 2 Italians they're holding before May.
noooby,
Glad you're enjoying your time here. I think you didn't get what NEO was saying. A security consultant who just comes and spends a few days with you on Areta, isn't living with you, just visiting before heaving a sigh of relief and returning to the safety of Intels. Many security consultants in PH seem to prefer living in the Intels camp, Shell, or just visiting from Lagos. Wonder why that is? NEO's also right about the owner not affording the safety that used to be the case as social barriers here are changing. The thugs, murderers and terrorists that we categorise as 'militants' these days have no respect for the old values or the old ways. This was really apparent a few weeks ago when 13 traditional chiefs were murdered near Ekulama. (no, not near Ekulema, the location of the new CHC camp). Personally, I think anywhere in Port Harcourt can have only the illusion of safety, but unless they want to make a point, the militants would be more likely usually to go for soft targets. Most terrorists would attack a soft skinned vehicle rather than a tank, unless they want to demonstrate their capability to destroy a tank. I still believe that maintaining a low profile has merits - you can't normally attack that which you don't know about. The trouble with that is that if you inadvertently come to the attention of the bad guys, you're probably going to get screwed.
NEO,
You make a good point about transport being the weak point and I can see why you'd be concerned. However, I can't imagine most of the pilots I know being prepared to live in Portakabins at the NAF Base until this all blows over. It would be nice if all the oil companies offered accommodation temporarily vacated by the families they've sent home, but that would be impractical given the number of expat contractors working for them. As has been said by other contributors about other things, why don't the likes of Bristow and CHC team up to purchase a decent sized site in a good location and go in for joint security, rather than wasting money on wasteful duplication of security resources? They may be in commercial competition, but they have a joint, vested interest in the security of their staff.