Dave,
In 1978 when I was there we were operating Wessex and Whirlwinds from Shell Warri.
There were several Number 17s and in 1991 when I was at WT I lived in house 17 (whose real number has slipped my mind now) because that was the Bristow bar. The Shell guys would have a fish and chip night in their no. 17 on alternate Fridays, whilst we had roast pork night in our no 17 on the other Fridays.
I remember my first flight from Lagos to old Warri airstrip in an Islander. The pilot, an ex-RN Buccaneer pilot asked if their were any pilot 'chap pies' amongst the passengers. When I admitted that I was he asked me to come and sit in the cockpit, right hand seat. As we were flying down to Warri he asked me if I'd like to fly and even when we arrived at the airstrip, told me that I could land it and he'd just talk me through! I'm pretty sure I could feel many helpful inputs on the controls as I landed and that I was really just following him through on the controls.