loav8r,
Bristow has bases at 9 separate locations in Nigeria, so it would be difficult to answer your question about all of them. Since the arrival of the new Managing Director, who you will have seen referred to in other posts on this thread as Mike Armlick, and the new Human Resources Damager, who you will have seen referred to as Foamy Coolings, morale has never been lower
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If you're thinking about Lagos you'll stay at the BRC (Bristow Residential Compound). This is a supposedly secure compound and has a swimming pool, tennis and squash courts with some gymnasium equipment. The rooms are pretty awful but tolerable for a 6 week tour. You have to pay rip-off prices for exceptionally ordinary food and even a cup of coffee (1 spoon of Nescafe in a cup or pot of hot water) will set you back N150 (about $1.25). In Lagos there is a bar but for some reason it's pretty cliquey and people seem to separate into groups of pilots and engineers.
In Eket you'll live in a supposedly secure hotel, but after Foamy Coolings has sacked so many local staff and upset so many people I reckon it's only a matter of time before one of them sells out information to the militants in the Delta. Hopefully they'll go to Lagos and take Coolings and Armlick, then they'll be gone because nobody would be interested in negotiating to get those 2 little charmers back
. The food is supplied but so many people fall sick that even though it's deemed too dangerous for people to get out and shop, some people cook for themselves and others just live on meals from the rigs offshore. The rooms are tolerable, facilities nil, but a great bunch of people to work with.
Both Eket and Lagos are main maintenance bases but there is a critical shortage of fully licensed engineers at both, in some cases there is only one person on the flight line who can sign for all the checks carried out by others. By Nigerian law, engineers are required to have a day off a week, same as the pilots but in practice this rarely happens due to the shortage.
Your remark about guys being there just to pay the bills is mostly true with just a few old die-hards who still claim to enjoy the place. Unless you're desparate steer well clear. There are other places which pay almost as well now and where you can still have a life outside of work, or go to work in Kandahar and really make the big $$$$$.