What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)
Chuks,
The last time I heard an ex-Bristow pilot utter that same comment...."You have to be alive to spend the money!" was in reference to the maintenance standard of the S-76 Fleet in Nigeria.
Last I heard he is alive and well complaining about how amorous his Missus is despite not having that bountiful pay check to play with.
The last time I heard an ex-Bristow pilot utter that same comment...."You have to be alive to spend the money!" was in reference to the maintenance standard of the S-76 Fleet in Nigeria.
Last I heard he is alive and well complaining about how amorous his Missus is despite not having that bountiful pay check to play with.
Nigerian In Law
Tokunbo,
I think GMIA is talking figuratively. There are two more pilot resignations on the table at Eket but a number of pilots and engineers are seriously contemplating their future. The pay review was to have been the clincher (or not), but the delay and Richard Burman's missive on the intranet has dampened everyone's spirit before it has even been announced.
I find it hard to accept that despite business plans and quarterly/annual figures management and HR can't look ahead and see what lies around the recruitment corner, especially at places like Eket. Wasn't it an American who coined the "Our people are our greatest resource" buzz-phrase ? Whatever the figures, bonuses, targets (Zero or otherwise), without engineers to fix and pilots to fly nobody will have a job let alone a fancy office.
Surely even in a modern KPI driven company like the one Bristow and CHC are trying to become a balance has to be struck between profit and longevity ? Or perhaps in the scheme of things ExxonMobil's business is not that important to BGI globally ?
NEO
I think GMIA is talking figuratively. There are two more pilot resignations on the table at Eket but a number of pilots and engineers are seriously contemplating their future. The pay review was to have been the clincher (or not), but the delay and Richard Burman's missive on the intranet has dampened everyone's spirit before it has even been announced.
I find it hard to accept that despite business plans and quarterly/annual figures management and HR can't look ahead and see what lies around the recruitment corner, especially at places like Eket. Wasn't it an American who coined the "Our people are our greatest resource" buzz-phrase ? Whatever the figures, bonuses, targets (Zero or otherwise), without engineers to fix and pilots to fly nobody will have a job let alone a fancy office.
Surely even in a modern KPI driven company like the one Bristow and CHC are trying to become a balance has to be struck between profit and longevity ? Or perhaps in the scheme of things ExxonMobil's business is not that important to BGI globally ?
NEO
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famous slogans
...and who is to believe when someone says "Our people are our greatest resource"? Is it that they like to hear themselves talk when company is around?
Nigeria..aa..aahh
Nigeria..aa..aahh
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Check out "Dilbert"...
Dilbert is not in aviation but he might as well be. He is talking with his manager about this very thing, "Our Employees Are Our Most Important Asset," when the manager tells him that they did some research and found out that "our people" are not actually the company's most important asset.
No, it turns out that MONEY is the most important asset and that the workers have been shifted further down the list. When asked where, the answer is that they are listed in sixth place, I think it is, just below paperclips.
Another time a visitor to the cubicle where Dilbert lives asks him where he is on the organigram, because he doesn't see Dilbert listed there. Dilbert tells him to see the coffee stain on the carpet because he is underneath that.
The best one from the big Chicken Tetrazzini shootout was being told later that "It was just a one-off." Managers have psychic abilities! Well, that or else it was just too darn much trouble to figure out how to deal with this new problem, I guess.
As long as there is some other sucker ready to come and take your place nothing much is going to change in Nigeria. For instance, I was with Julius Berger for about 4 years, when their politics finally got me. Well, first they got the Swedish engineer, which mattered a lot more, since he was keeping our airplanes safe to fly! Then they got me and afterwards they averaged about six months per pilot as these losers came and went. I had other fish to fry so that I really was not all that chafed, even offering to break in the new guy. It turned out that dear old Pan African had found some guy who had been flying Caravans in the States to come to Nigeria to fly a hot turboprop and this was going to be my replacement, show everyone that just about anybody could do the job (because that is exactly what management really believe). The guy didn't even last a tour before he quit saying that he didn't want to die, since he had bit off far more than he could chew. That just made the Flight Department Manager look good, that he was more capable than his pilots, all he really cared about anyway.
If you have pride, professionalism, standards, whatever... don't let that sucker you into sticking around to sort out the mess, wherever you happen to find yourself. Think "Management," sort out some deal, grab the money and run!
No, it turns out that MONEY is the most important asset and that the workers have been shifted further down the list. When asked where, the answer is that they are listed in sixth place, I think it is, just below paperclips.
Another time a visitor to the cubicle where Dilbert lives asks him where he is on the organigram, because he doesn't see Dilbert listed there. Dilbert tells him to see the coffee stain on the carpet because he is underneath that.
The best one from the big Chicken Tetrazzini shootout was being told later that "It was just a one-off." Managers have psychic abilities! Well, that or else it was just too darn much trouble to figure out how to deal with this new problem, I guess.
As long as there is some other sucker ready to come and take your place nothing much is going to change in Nigeria. For instance, I was with Julius Berger for about 4 years, when their politics finally got me. Well, first they got the Swedish engineer, which mattered a lot more, since he was keeping our airplanes safe to fly! Then they got me and afterwards they averaged about six months per pilot as these losers came and went. I had other fish to fry so that I really was not all that chafed, even offering to break in the new guy. It turned out that dear old Pan African had found some guy who had been flying Caravans in the States to come to Nigeria to fly a hot turboprop and this was going to be my replacement, show everyone that just about anybody could do the job (because that is exactly what management really believe). The guy didn't even last a tour before he quit saying that he didn't want to die, since he had bit off far more than he could chew. That just made the Flight Department Manager look good, that he was more capable than his pilots, all he really cared about anyway.
If you have pride, professionalism, standards, whatever... don't let that sucker you into sticking around to sort out the mess, wherever you happen to find yourself. Think "Management," sort out some deal, grab the money and run!
This lush country on this infamous west coast of Africa
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North Sea And Nigeria United By Mend
Scotland is going to get hotter if Jomo Gbomo has his way as can been seen from a recent MEND press release 
I can just see it now - non Scottish pilots living in secure compounds close to Aberdeen airport, having sent their families back home for safety, travelling in to work in armoured convoys, escorted by troops from The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Ridiculous eh, not to be taken seriously, but if it happened, with North Sea unions, companies would have to take it seriously, would provide decent housing, security and a decent salary package. But this is the reality of daily life for many in Nigeria and because the workforce is multinational, there is no organisation or union to represent their views, they are just dismissed as irrelevant by company senior managers who feel they can almost get away with what they like 
. Well, there's a small breeze of change blowing and more of the guys at Eket and other bases all over the Niger Delta are starting to think, like chuks, that it is better to have a decent life working elsewhere even if the money is a bit lower. In many places now, the quality of life is considerably better and the money is only a little bit lower. Remember that is better to leave a little bit late than to be late when leaving
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been approached for it's expertise by an emerging militant group in Scotland who share the sentiments of the Scottish National Party who believe that Scotland should be independent and have full control over its North Sea oil resources like the oppressed people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Scotland would be one of the richest countries in the world if it was allowed to keep all its oil revenues - worth around $112 billion over the next six years.
Although Scotland is still relatively better off compared to many African countries, they still have among the worst health, poverty, crime and life expectancy records in the developed world - while the huge profits which could help tackle these problems go to the oil companies and Gordon Brown's government in London.
MEND supports the Scottish peoples fight for independence and the right to profit from their natural resources, rather than see it drained away by a 'foreign' country.
We share the same pain and sentiments and together we will work with freedom fighters in Scotland to emancipate it's people from the similar bondage the people of the Niger Delta face.
Jomo Gbomo
Scotland would be one of the richest countries in the world if it was allowed to keep all its oil revenues - worth around $112 billion over the next six years.
Although Scotland is still relatively better off compared to many African countries, they still have among the worst health, poverty, crime and life expectancy records in the developed world - while the huge profits which could help tackle these problems go to the oil companies and Gordon Brown's government in London.
MEND supports the Scottish peoples fight for independence and the right to profit from their natural resources, rather than see it drained away by a 'foreign' country.
We share the same pain and sentiments and together we will work with freedom fighters in Scotland to emancipate it's people from the similar bondage the people of the Niger Delta face.
Jomo Gbomo
. Well, there's a small breeze of change blowing and more of the guys at Eket and other bases all over the Niger Delta are starting to think, like chuks, that it is better to have a decent life working elsewhere even if the money is a bit lower. In many places now, the quality of life is considerably better and the money is only a little bit lower. Remember that is better to leave a little bit late than to be late when leaving
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Watch Out For Bonny - 16 July
The BBC is reporting a mass exodus from Bonny as militants said they would return today and behead anyone not from the area:
BONNY ALERT
The town was attacked 2 weeks ago and 9 people killed. It seems the local inhabitants are taking the threat seriously and thousands have already fled. One of the local youth leaders said that he has contacted all the known militant groups in the area and been assured that there was no threat.
There has also just been an attack on a houseboat at Orugiri by a large group of militants and in a fire-fight lasting more than an hour at least 5 people are reported dead.
Militants also seem incensed by British Prime Dimwitter Gordon Brown's posturing on Nigeria of late. There's no way the Nigerian government would allow any British military to be sent in as they'd probably very quickly expose the complicity of many high ranking politicians and military in the present unrest and bunkering scandals, but it gives MEND an opportunity for more publicity.
Irrespective of the actual origin of the threat to Bonny it would be prudent to be extra cautious if flying there in the next few days, even if your company has told you none of this
BONNY ALERT
The town was attacked 2 weeks ago and 9 people killed. It seems the local inhabitants are taking the threat seriously and thousands have already fled. One of the local youth leaders said that he has contacted all the known militant groups in the area and been assured that there was no threat.
There has also just been an attack on a houseboat at Orugiri by a large group of militants and in a fire-fight lasting more than an hour at least 5 people are reported dead.
Militants also seem incensed by British Prime Dimwitter Gordon Brown's posturing on Nigeria of late. There's no way the Nigerian government would allow any British military to be sent in as they'd probably very quickly expose the complicity of many high ranking politicians and military in the present unrest and bunkering scandals, but it gives MEND an opportunity for more publicity.
Irrespective of the actual origin of the threat to Bonny it would be prudent to be extra cautious if flying there in the next few days, even if your company has told you none of this
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Independence or not
and does anyone really think that all this hostility has anything to do with independence...or is a foreign power, whose name I refuse to mention, paying off the militants to clear the place in order for this foreign power to take over and scavenge the resources? Stay tuned! Soon we will be fed rice and rat meat...get my drift
Nigerian In Law
alouette,
Interesting theory. How about the same theme but with Nigerian politicians present and past with vested interests in perpetuating the crisis ?
Any realistic attempt at a resolution, not to mention disarming the "militants" who were probably armed by aspiring politians and rich businessmen involved in the bunkering, would need to address who/what was behind the insurrection in the first place. Those people would definitely not want those reasons to be exposed, particularly if their names and the money they made/are making were to be publicised.
The obvious poverty and lack of infrastructural investment is present all over the country in different forms. In the North they have excellent roads built by the Petroleum Trust Fund but no vehicles to use on them, in the South everyone has a car but the roads are terrible.
Apart from corruption and outright theft by "Fat Cats", those behind the glaring lack of commitment for seeking meaningful dialogue and moving toward a realistic plan for development and equality managed to frustrate Obasanjo and are now doing the same with Yar Adua. The most powerful man in Nigeria he may be, but if those around him don't want something done it will not be done.
The reasons why these people wish to perpetuate this injustice apart from self preservation are not that clear.
NEO
Interesting theory. How about the same theme but with Nigerian politicians present and past with vested interests in perpetuating the crisis ?
Any realistic attempt at a resolution, not to mention disarming the "militants" who were probably armed by aspiring politians and rich businessmen involved in the bunkering, would need to address who/what was behind the insurrection in the first place. Those people would definitely not want those reasons to be exposed, particularly if their names and the money they made/are making were to be publicised.
The obvious poverty and lack of infrastructural investment is present all over the country in different forms. In the North they have excellent roads built by the Petroleum Trust Fund but no vehicles to use on them, in the South everyone has a car but the roads are terrible.
Apart from corruption and outright theft by "Fat Cats", those behind the glaring lack of commitment for seeking meaningful dialogue and moving toward a realistic plan for development and equality managed to frustrate Obasanjo and are now doing the same with Yar Adua. The most powerful man in Nigeria he may be, but if those around him don't want something done it will not be done.
The reasons why these people wish to perpetuate this injustice apart from self preservation are not that clear.
NEO
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Simple answer...
Neo,
Why does the dog carry out his personal grooming (so to speak)?
Because he can!
I remember once visiting some retired "top shot" from the Nigeria Police in Minna. There was the sitting room with the pelmet sporting the usual rococo gilt framed chromos, the dusty fake Chippendale furniture and the big Sony TV from ten years ago with matching video player looking as if someone had been whacking them with a sandbag. Yes, all the trophies from a career of grabbing all he could, I suppose, but there he was living on a road that was more holes than road so that I wondered where he thought he was going in his Mercedes, really, even if he was willing to take his chances with the robbers.
The tragedy of the place is that people have learned from bitter experience to grab what they can for themselves. Anything shared is quickly gone, right down to the railings on the flyovers, hacked off, carted away and melted down for scrap. Check out the runway lights at Lagos: gone the same way in the early Eighties! You used to see a little heap of nuts and bolts and a fresh hole, first thing in the morning...
I seem to remember hearing how the chopper pilots were once asked to report any illegal bunkering they saw. The reports came flooding in and after a few days the next request was for them to ignore any bunkering they saw!
I shall ask my liberal family in America how to sort out the mess in Africa and get back to you with that. There is no use getting all "racist" about it, is there. I am sure the solution somehow involves sending everyone to college in America to learn Western values so that I shall probably be back to ask each of you working there for a small contribution from your huge wages.
Why does the dog carry out his personal grooming (so to speak)?
Because he can!
I remember once visiting some retired "top shot" from the Nigeria Police in Minna. There was the sitting room with the pelmet sporting the usual rococo gilt framed chromos, the dusty fake Chippendale furniture and the big Sony TV from ten years ago with matching video player looking as if someone had been whacking them with a sandbag. Yes, all the trophies from a career of grabbing all he could, I suppose, but there he was living on a road that was more holes than road so that I wondered where he thought he was going in his Mercedes, really, even if he was willing to take his chances with the robbers.
The tragedy of the place is that people have learned from bitter experience to grab what they can for themselves. Anything shared is quickly gone, right down to the railings on the flyovers, hacked off, carted away and melted down for scrap. Check out the runway lights at Lagos: gone the same way in the early Eighties! You used to see a little heap of nuts and bolts and a fresh hole, first thing in the morning...
I seem to remember hearing how the chopper pilots were once asked to report any illegal bunkering they saw. The reports came flooding in and after a few days the next request was for them to ignore any bunkering they saw!
I shall ask my liberal family in America how to sort out the mess in Africa and get back to you with that. There is no use getting all "racist" about it, is there. I am sure the solution somehow involves sending everyone to college in America to learn Western values so that I shall probably be back to ask each of you working there for a small contribution from your huge wages.
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As long as we can "feel good" about trying to solve the problem. And as long as it doesn't really cost anything, then my liberal friends will be happy to join your friends and solve this problem! But please, do not offend anyone in the process....
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We should not condone what is happening in Nigeria. However, we must not forget that the word "CORRUPTION" is not a Nigerian word. We have all witnessed corruption all over the world in varying degrees, just a bit more brazen here.
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Chuks just for my own education is this the Chicken Tetrazzini just around the corner from the BRC? Each morning since I read your post, when we drive past the thing (always going by the same route of course) I look at it and get the heebie jeebies.
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The very one...
If it's still there, yes, it is the Chicken Tetrazzini restaurant on the next street parallel to the one the BRC is on, the one that leads to that big market if you turn right, close to the main road to the airport which is reached by turning left.
All that advice about varying your route to work is all very well but there just aren't that many different ways to get to work from the BRC, are there?
The guys who shot up the bus were idiots. Once they opened fire what did they expect us to do, just sit there and wait to die? If they had held us at gunpoint without shooting they could have got whatever they wanted. The story we got was that they had tried and failed to rob a wealthy Nigerian up the road somewhere, when they must have blundered across us as we tried to cut into the usual heavy traffic, five ex-pats in a bus.
The stupid thing is that the American Embassy, for one, sell off their used vehicles, including some fitted with armour, so that it might be possible easily to source something like a Ford Econoline fitted with real Kevlar armour and run-flat tires and then re-fit it with bullet resistant glass. That would take some thought and a bit of action, of course. All we got were interviews with a Shell doctor and some little white pills to help us sleep, plus the usual BS about how deeply, deeply concerned they were about all this.
There is no intrinsic reason why a similar attack should not occur in the same way at the same place. Well, not that I can think of, so that, yes, I used to feel like a real chump sat in the same bus in the same place.
If they still have that white Ssangyong bus take a close look at the forward bench seat and you might see the little holes in the seat back I was writing about, one in the back and another in the front. You may also notice that the headrest on the right has a different covering. That is because it has a bullet hole right through it. I was keeping it for a souvenir until I saw the other holes, when it then really didn't seem to matter very much. I got it reupholstered and put it back in the bus after that.
The mind is a funny thing. I was sat there in that bus, bent way over with dirt jumping off the floor of the bus hard enough to sting my face as rounds came past, feeling rather depressed about all of that. Then I thought that I might as well see if I could get Isaac to get a move on, assuming we weren't blocked in. That worked a treat.
It all went so quickly that we were back at Doc Kupa's before the right rear tire had finished going flat from a shotgun pellet. Something like ten minutes, tops. The back of the bus looked as if someone had been killing chickens in there from where my British colleague had been bleeding heavily and I found that sight profoundly troubling. That seems a bit odd, doesn't it? It took a long time to get the sight out of my mind to the point where I could sleep at all well.
The whole thing quickly descended into farce at Doc Kupa's when my British colleague, now laid face-down on an operating table, made a very strange request...
All that advice about varying your route to work is all very well but there just aren't that many different ways to get to work from the BRC, are there?
The guys who shot up the bus were idiots. Once they opened fire what did they expect us to do, just sit there and wait to die? If they had held us at gunpoint without shooting they could have got whatever they wanted. The story we got was that they had tried and failed to rob a wealthy Nigerian up the road somewhere, when they must have blundered across us as we tried to cut into the usual heavy traffic, five ex-pats in a bus.
The stupid thing is that the American Embassy, for one, sell off their used vehicles, including some fitted with armour, so that it might be possible easily to source something like a Ford Econoline fitted with real Kevlar armour and run-flat tires and then re-fit it with bullet resistant glass. That would take some thought and a bit of action, of course. All we got were interviews with a Shell doctor and some little white pills to help us sleep, plus the usual BS about how deeply, deeply concerned they were about all this.
There is no intrinsic reason why a similar attack should not occur in the same way at the same place. Well, not that I can think of, so that, yes, I used to feel like a real chump sat in the same bus in the same place.
If they still have that white Ssangyong bus take a close look at the forward bench seat and you might see the little holes in the seat back I was writing about, one in the back and another in the front. You may also notice that the headrest on the right has a different covering. That is because it has a bullet hole right through it. I was keeping it for a souvenir until I saw the other holes, when it then really didn't seem to matter very much. I got it reupholstered and put it back in the bus after that.
The mind is a funny thing. I was sat there in that bus, bent way over with dirt jumping off the floor of the bus hard enough to sting my face as rounds came past, feeling rather depressed about all of that. Then I thought that I might as well see if I could get Isaac to get a move on, assuming we weren't blocked in. That worked a treat.
It all went so quickly that we were back at Doc Kupa's before the right rear tire had finished going flat from a shotgun pellet. Something like ten minutes, tops. The back of the bus looked as if someone had been killing chickens in there from where my British colleague had been bleeding heavily and I found that sight profoundly troubling. That seems a bit odd, doesn't it? It took a long time to get the sight out of my mind to the point where I could sleep at all well.
The whole thing quickly descended into farce at Doc Kupa's when my British colleague, now laid face-down on an operating table, made a very strange request...
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Coming to think of that....
How easy would it be to pay off the security guards "at some guesthouse" for them to overrun the joint and take whatever they want. Pretty scary thought. I think I will sleep on the backseat of the aircraft...
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The new MD of Bristow, like the old and like that of Aero do not live 'with the boys' in Ikeja, so they don't really know what it's like at their respective companies' guest houses (rather like RL in Port Harcourt). I wonder if the new MD of Bristow will try and change anything after visiting the bases and talking to people - even that's a pretty novel concept in Bristow, senior management staying overnight at bases in dangerous places and talking to people.
I Try To Be Good !!
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Tok,
Rather like locking the gate after the horse has bolted ?
Would he be visiting the "coal face" if there were no problems there ? If he needs to come personally to find out what the problems are then we are in a sad situation as the issues have been plain for anyone to see for nearly two years. If his predecessor had been in the least concerned these would have been included in the hand over.
It's only people's despair at the lack of improvement and management's ostrich impersonation that have caused things to come to the present state of affairs. That coupled with pay rises elsewhere and the prospect of having at least some sort of relaxation without being surrounded by (sleeping) MOPOL/JTF is what has and will continue to drive people out.
My money is on more departures. NEO's sweepstake now seems to be prophetic !!
Rather like locking the gate after the horse has bolted ?
Would he be visiting the "coal face" if there were no problems there ? If he needs to come personally to find out what the problems are then we are in a sad situation as the issues have been plain for anyone to see for nearly two years. If his predecessor had been in the least concerned these would have been included in the hand over. It's only people's despair at the lack of improvement and management's ostrich impersonation that have caused things to come to the present state of affairs. That coupled with pay rises elsewhere and the prospect of having at least some sort of relaxation without being surrounded by (sleeping) MOPOL/JTF is what has and will continue to drive people out.
My money is on more departures. NEO's sweepstake now seems to be prophetic !!
Last edited by Good Man In Africa; 19th Jul 2008 at 06:05. Reason: Finger Trouble
If my memory serves me right doesn’t the Ssangyong bus interior light showed a crazing bullet mark as well?
Alouette: the compound next to the BRC was robbed by people entering via the BRC and our guards had noticed nothing.
So Chuks tell us what was the strange request ….
Alouette: the compound next to the BRC was robbed by people entering via the BRC and our guards had noticed nothing.
So Chuks tell us what was the strange request ….