Are expats really safer?
I don't know any airline that is required to employ expat pilots for safety reasons (Utter b0llocks!). The main reasons there are expats pilots in Nigeria:
1. There are not enough Nigerian pilots, even though that is debatable in some cases
2. Wet leases
3. Airlines don't want to pay for type ratings, so they employ type-rated expats
4. Some (mostly private) operators believe expats are better than locals, even though most come to their senses as time goes by.
5. In some cases expats are cheaper, Nigerians are demanding higher salaries.
In my company, expats are a majority. Yet the new ones request to fly with Nigerian pilots initially till they get comfortable flying in Nigeria.
Flying within Nigeria requires above average situational awareness, which unfortunately most (yes, most) of the expats flying in Nigeria don't have. It takes months, if not years, to build up.
One group of pilots (less than 25%) understand that they are coming to a developing country with lots of problems. So they tap into local knowledge, ask questions and keep an open mind. Wonderful guys to fly with.
The other group have the typical expat attitude. They believe they are superior to the locals and that they are bringing in a wealth of knowledge. They are easily identifiable, just look for the guy constantly moaning in the bus/hotel/flight deck/pprune about how bad Nigeria is and how things work like clockwork back home. They are the one who always sneak into the DFO/Chief pilot's office with "bright ideas". They forget the reason they are employed is to make up the numbers due to a shortage of Nigerians. As you fly with them week in week out, there is no sign of improvement.
My personal opinion is that the best expats go to the likes of EK, Qatar, etc while Africa gets the bottom of the barrel (except for a few).
It's a shame those who have the power to create a professional Nigerian dominated pilot workforce have failed woefully to do so. There are dozens of unemployed foreign trained Nigerian FOs who are being overlooked for foreigners with little or no experience (I've spent a lot of time safety pilot). The last graduating set from NCAT are all on the job market.
Let the big Ogas set high standards for Nigerian pilots, don't train people to meet FO minimum standards, but instead to be potential commanders. The command requirements need to drop, while (operational and training) standards and discipline need to rise. Move boys to the left and give the SA/FAA/NCAT trained newbies a chance