Revnetwork,
In reply to your thread drift, it's obvious you live and work in Lagos where the major security threat is possibly no worse than many of the world's major cities and the main threat is from armed robbers. However, you are totally incorrect if you try to apply your statements to the Niger Delta area where a huge number of expatriates try to keep oil extraction going to fuel the beasts you manage.
Farct;
Nigeria's oil production is now less than that of Angola and will soon be less than that of Libya. Why is this? Because terrorist activities in the Niger Delta have shut down so much oil production. Since the commencement of so-called democratic rule in this country more than 14,000 people have been murdered. The human rights organisation, Amnesty International in its State of the World’s Human Rights Report 2008 released in Abuja, states that in Nigeria, the military, police, other security forces, and militants in the Niger Delta, were fingered as being behind the hundreds of extrajudicial execution that took place in 2007. It said over 200 persons, including journalists, were killed before, during, and after the April and May general election. Parts of the report on Nigeria read,
”Members of the police and security forces extra-judicially executed hundreds of people in 2007.
”These included killings by police during routine road checks or for refusing to pay a bribe, shootings of suspected armed robbers on arrest, and extrajudicial executions of detainees in police stations.
“The military were also frequently involved in extrajudicial executions, especially in the Niger Delta.
You state:
There are at least a thousand times the number of flight crew who are expatriates/foreigners etc who live and move about quite freely without the need for armed escorts. In terms of business, this place is an expatriates "manna" which is why they come (oil, manufacturing, banking, aviation) you name it. If the place was as unsafe and dangerous as a lot of people have said, then we would be hearing of daily killings and muggings of all the foreigners (and locals) who go about their business within the country. I work for an employer in Nigeria where there is a high number of expatriate staff who live in homes/flats/hotels and have no need for armed escorts during the daily course of business.
Our security department gives us advise on areas to avoid etc just as a normal sensible person would in EVERY country in the world. We do have the option of calling for armed escorts if we are venturing to/through those areas especially at night time. I also use this service, not necessarily because anything will happen to me (as the chances something will happen to me out of the hundreds of other people) but because my company demands it when I go to certain places.
A thousand times the number of expatriates.....
The reason the majority of the expatriate pilots who are here have escorts (and that by the way is helicopter pilots as there are more than 60 helicopters flying in this country) is that it's the only way that most employers can get the necessary insurance on them because of the real danger of being kidnapped on the way to work, or from their place of residence or being hijacked during the course of their daily work. Have you ever been kidnapped or hijacked? I have, and it's a frightening experience. I am still here because I love this country. However, unlike you, I recognise that it is a dangerous place to live and work for many expatriates in the oil producing areas. With my company, we can move around Lagos without escort, but out in the swamps of the Delta, it would be a foolish man who thinks he can travel for long without escort and without one day being subjected to the risk of a kidnap. If most companies did not provide these facilities in the oil-producing areas it's not a case of pilots not coming, but of their insurance cover being invalidated.