What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)

[chuks]

I told you so! Didn't I?

Years of playing the role of Cassandra of the Crew Bus, keening, 'We are all doomed! Doooomed!' and all I get to do now is watch from afar via 'What's new in West Africa.' Hmph.

Well, that might be just as well. I missed 'The Fall of Saigon,' too, and that didn't seem to do me any harm.

It all seems to be following a rather predictable arc, doesn't it? Remember back when Abacha & Co. had a reign of terror going in the Delta? Much talked about but nothing was to be seen in the international press, aside from the odd guy being hanged. Now comes the payback, perhaps, and any country boy can tell you that 'paybacks are Hell.'

When I arrived in Lagos back in 1981 I was told that there was just no way this whole thing could end in tears. The country had so much potential wealth, there was just no way its leaders could make a total mess of it. Uh-huh.

Back then conventional wisdom was to just wait a little while and the boom years of the late Seventies would return. A few years later we were scratching around trying to find such basics as light bulbs and toilet paper, as relatively wealthy ex-pats. Never mind what normal idigenes were going through. And by the standards of today Lagos circa 1985 was much nicer!

[Tokunbo]

bayou,

The great majority of the expat pilots working in Nigeria are touring either 7/5 (Bristow) or 6/6 (CHC) or 12/4 or 5 months/ 1 month (Caverton). Occasionally wives get out for a visit, but not too often. Bristow has a few positions with Shell which are on married basis, but for CHC and Caverton there are almost none.
With the present security situation in Nigeria, if you want your family secure leave them at home

[TomBola]

bayou, if I were you, I'd stay home with my family It's all very well being gung-ho, but in Nigeria, if you're an expat having a gun is not a good idea - one Bristow pilot spent quite a time in prison some years back after police found an unlicensed gun is his house.
The Nigerian Air Force has just attacked Gbaramautu, a town near Warri (one of the 4 main bases where Bristow and Aerocontractors operate). The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claim that they opened fire on the helicopter with rockets and machine guns, causing it to abandon its mission. In a statement, MEND said that the helicopter had taken off from Osubi (Warri) airfield (owned by Shell). As a result it is now considered a military facility and any aircraft using it may be shot down Bristow is the main operator of helicopters in the Warri area as it has contracts for Shell and Chevron there. Aero only flies for NNPC. MEND has warned that anyone working in the oil industry in the Delta area should leave by midnight tonight or they could be targets when it starts 'all out war'. It now comes down to whether the Nigerian government is going to react in a military or a diplomatic fashion. They seem to have tried some form of diplomacy until now, but these helicopter gunship attacks are certainly stepping up the tension in the area. Unless you have to go to Nigeria (or are a war buff ), I'd wait a few months and see how things go.

[Musket33]

Hi Chuks,

Am I to assume you have also left the warm bossom of mother "B" for the cold northern climes? It appears we both might to have to watch a rather sad story unfold from afar? Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and a peaceful settlement will be reached. Large scale open conflict would only disrupt the oil flow. Lets not forget the ONLY reason most expats are in Nigeria is to accommodate oil production. Best of luck, more as it happens.

Cheers,

[Gray 14]

Gray 14

To Musket 33. Are you a genuine Musket from the 176th? Your file shows Nigeria. I'm in Cameroun. MM 14. Let me know if the connect is there.

Later,

Gray

[Musket33]

Hi Gray 14

Yes! I was in the 176th AHC from August 1969 till August 1970. I'm no longer in Nigeria. Sorry, spent 13 years there (not all in one go) working for Bristow's. You can currently find me in Las Vegas, NV. I'll bet you can guess my aol e-mail address. Hope to hear from you soon. I have keep in touch with several other guys from the 176th, so drop me an e-mail.

Cheers,
former WO1 D**** A****

[archos]

It's getting worse in the Delta. Reports have it, that a Wilbros crane barge operating in the Forcados estuary was attacked at 0715 hrs this morning, with soldiers being killed and 10 hostages being taken, Americans and Philippinos. The ultimatum given by MEND (or whoever) for expats to leave the country ran out at midnight yesterday. There were more gunship raids by the Airforce as well, promting a declaration of full scale war by Mend. To see them actually spring into action so soon after their warnings is scary, to say the least. At the moment Shell/Bristow Helicopters are evacuating Forcados Terminal (so one hears). After these serious attacks with intention to kill, how safe is it to buzz around all these places in Helicopters?

[archos]

Latest figures say nine hostages taken and some soldiers injured, still tragic enough. Hopefully the hostages won't be treated any harsher than those taken before them, now that the situation in the Delta is escalating.

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Hi archos,

Yup, escalating is a good word but this time an understatement I think. Forcados Terminal, Soku Gas, Ekulama to name but a few are being evacuated.

The flow will decrease, oil and gas prices will rise and the Federal Government will make even more money and squander it on personal luxuries or projects for their cronies.

I saw the Rivers State Government jet at PH on my way to Paree with Air Chance the other day. Very impressive. They could have built quite a few roads/schools/clinics with what that costs to buy and operate I should think.

Such a shame to see kids queuing at standpipes for water, no electricity, a farsical telephone system and a waste of human resource in what should be the most prosperous country in Africa.

Rant over. I'm off to drown my sorrows.

NEO.

[SASless]

Chuks,

I can one up you....left Vietnam well ahead of that failure...we wuz winning when I left so don't blame me for that one. I also left a bit before the Shah rode the rail out of town....and I too have left the balmy climes of the Niger Delta.

At least one Bristow pilot remains who was in Iran at the end...and may well find himself smack dab in the middle of a similar affair at Warri.

Stacey,

I also recall seeing the Wizard of Oz from start to finish for the first time ever...in an upstairs bar you know quite well. Odd things happen in Nigeria....not all bad either.

[check]

SASless

"At least one Bristow pilot remains who was in Iran at the end"

Not quite part of the thread, but intriqued by the above. You certainly don't mean THE END, is it the end of the beginning that you mean. I was an unfortunate pilot who landed in Gach Saran the morning after the midnight flit and was promptly taken to the dungeons for interrogation, well the staff house then. The fact that many of the people new me and the helicopter had a big HAS and a red arrow painted all over it did not seem to matter, I was an escaping Bristow pilot until proved otherwise. All's well that ends well and after lunch was released to continue on my way to Bushehr.

The point I'm making, was the end 1979 for Bristow because our end was Sept 1980. My last flight was a crew change to Bahrain then a flight to Tehran follow by London. That weekend Irak bombed Tehran and war followed. Now that was the end!!

[SASless]

Well now....guess the HAS boys did not get to the right novelist.

At least with Bristow gone....you guys would have been busy with all the vacant contracts.

I have classic photo of an ex-Royal Marine pilot....set upon the Dunny at a bush site we all knew as Papa Charlie....he was flying a Lama down there with us for a while. Had to ask him to put on his HAS ball cap so we would know which way to orient the photo during viewing.

[SASless]

Latest News from Ogoniland

Shell has closed Osubi Airport to military operations only. Shell owned helicopters operated by Bristow are now operating out of the Shell IA at Warri. Forcardos Terminal personnel were evacuated to Benin today. No news of either military action or attacks by insurgents. No news on the Nine Hostages that were taken recently.

The airstrip under construction at the Ogunu IA remains incomplete thus the 155's cannot achieve CAT A performance or use required profiles. Seems Shell reckons that is a secondary consideration in light of the current situation.

Makes one harken back to the time during which the Osubi Project was being forwarded as the best way to operate. Even then security concerns were raised but the Shakers and Movers failed to consider that while choosing the location. A location very near to the Ogunu camp was rejected in favor of the strip that was built clear across town from the Shell camps locations.

[Musket33]

Hi Sasless

Don't forget the Osubi project was imposed by the National government upon Shell and the other contractors. Shell would rather have not, was what I heard. Even Bristows had to come up with a sizable donation($1million was the sum I heard). I haven't seen the conditions at the IA but, with a large enough weight reduction CatA performance can be achieved with a much shorter reject area.

Sounds like this situation has moved past the "let's talk about it" phase. I just hope all the people we know, both National and Expat, remain well and safe.

Cheers,

[Makila]

EC 155 Departures from Ogunu RA Warri


" the 155's cannot achieve CAT A performance or use required profiles"

This is incorrect as the Cat A vertical profile from the EC155B flight
manual- Sup1/6.1(Fig 24) Cat A operations, has been in affect during the
runway construction phase & current period of unrest for 155 aircraft
departing the Ogunu RA . The landing profile also provides for Cat A
performance.

The runway construction has limited the choice of departure profiles,
with the above mentioned being the most weight restricted.

Shell have not given Cat A any secondary considerations, as there
has been no requirement to lift passenger weight loads in/out of the
the Ogunu RA.

Best wishes for all involved.

[chuks]

Conventional wisdom, anyone?

I have got into trouble so many times, dissing conventional wisdom as promulgated by various sets of top neddies. Of course said neddies usually up sticks and are away well before the Vigoro reaches the ventilator, but never mind that... And here, conventional wisdom has been that there is nothing seriously wrong in the Delta. Well, nothing a few hand-outs couldn't fix.

I don't want to do much stirring on this one. It would be kind of like pointing out the mistakes made by a certain AK-wielding little crim who either forgot to account for or never learned about 'muzzle rise.' Most of the bullet holes ended up in the wrong place. Boy, what a big stupid HE was! I really meant to tell him that but just couldn't find the time in my busy Monday morning program there. Maybe better I just keep some of what we are all now thinking to myself here.

I remember a certain friend of the Magyar persuasion telling me about his time in a guest house 'somewhere in the Niger Delta.' He said his hosts spent their time 'wrestling, smoking ganja and cleaning their weapons.' The first two sounded about right but the 'cleaning their weapons' bit sent a chill down my spine. When was the last time you saw the offical soldiery with clean weapons? Some of them look so filthy they might explode when fired.

You don't suppose some of those thug militias might be running out of control on their own agendas? Instead of loyally serving various 'big men' perhaps some have decided to cut out the middle men and go for the big prize.

I once had a very obnoxious know-it-all sharing my table at the 'Red Fox' in Bethesda. He was bending my ear about how he was off to Iran to make his fortune remodelling the logistics of the Imperial Iranian Army or whatever it was called. I finally got so fed up with him that I predicted the fall of the Shah in gruesome detail, even though Nixon's (remember him?) conventional wisdom was that the weedy little jerk was a bulwark of strength and our very bestest and most dependable friend in the Middle East ever. Less than a year later the whole rotten edifice came crashing down, when I wondered what had become of Mr Know-it-all.

[Ikoyian]

7 days

So its looks like we have been given 7 days to get out of the Delta or we will not be safe, as if we were ever as safe as can be!

Now there is a rumour that the incarcerated ex governer of Bayelsa state, Alamieyeseigha, (spell it...I can't pronounce it!) is in a critical way and may croak at any time. If this happens there may/will be further aggravation to look forward to.

The present hostage crises may be exacerbated now because his (Ala...etc) release was part of the kidnappers terms.

Looks like the Ijaws will be needing to find another leader who will probably need to catch up on his predesessor and purchase many houses in Knightsbridge and Chelsea using funds intended for his impoverished brothers.

I wonder if the fires in the Delta will burn for a while yet.

[SASless]

Does anyone with more than a weekend in the Delta actually think the Nigerian military is equipped, trained, and capable of putting down an insurgency of the sort developing there? The normal response is to visit death and destruction on a village or two then leg it back to other places. That will only add fuel to the fire in my view.

Truth be known....the conventional leadership of the government, insurgents, and the oil companies have been so corrupt and intent upon stealing all they can for themselves that they may have made a real mistake and created a new set of leaders from amongst the people. If that is the case....then this is going to become a very bad situation. The new guys might just be in it for the "good" of the people and not merely for selfish reasons. If that is the case....they are a threat to all of the others.

Last time I read about the revenue sharing it was along the lines of 30% of the oil revenue based upon 13 US Dollars per barrel of oil being diverted to the local governments by the Federal Government. By the time the local leaders rip off what they can...pass the rest around to their cronies....one can see the results. Any reason why the ordinary Nigerian in the Delta feels left out?

Shell is supposed to have given a briefing to the Ogunu residents that suggests there is no threat to the camp or its residents....and that they know ahead of time what is going on. Since they have not stopped any attacks such as the one at Benisede or the Willbros Barge....I somehow think they are selling a pack of porkies.

Its real folks....the natives are getting restless.

[SASless]

Long article but worth reading

Fresh wounds in the Niger Delta

Written by Reuben Abati

The current crisis in the Niger Delta in the form of the transformation of that region into a mini-Iraq with aggrieved citizens taking oil workers hostage, and demanding ransom as if they were disciples of Osama Bin Laden is the inevitable outcome of the failure of the Nigerian state and the professional political class to address the politics of oil. It can only get worse and it will. It would appear that the youths of the Niger Delta have finally discovered how best to treat and beat the Nigerian state. In the past week, they have kidnapped four oil workers: a Briton, a Honduran, an American, and a Bulgarian. They have seized two vessels, and attacked three flow stations. They are threatening to move from one oil major to the other. They call themselves Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Each time radical militants of the Niger Delta seize oil flow stations, kidnap oil workers and inflict punishment on Nigerian security forces, the international price of crude oil shoots up. The daily production output of the oil companies in the Delta drops, and so Nigeria loses revenue. Oil theft is made easier, and perhaps more important for the purpose of the militias, the international community focuses afresh on the problems of the Niger Delta. Their action is dramatic. The effect is even more so. Shell which depends on the Niger Delta for ten per cent of its global oil production, as well as the other oil majors are already used to crises of this nature. There can be no doubt that they consider violent attacks on their processes and installations, part of the price to be paid for doing business in Nigeria. Shell has evacuated over 300 of its staff. Chevron has suspended some of its operations. But they will return either as partners of the Nigerian state or of the commanders of the Niger Delta, depending on how the coming showdown is resolved.

The main challenge lies in how six, seven years into civilian democracy, the Nigerian government has not been able to make any progress in the Niger Delta. The situation in that region worsened during military rule especially under General Sani Abacha who unleashed a regime of terror and repression on the people, killing Ken Saro-Wiwa, the MOSOP activist and eight others. Abacha turned the people against one another and sacked communities. There was some respite under General Abdusalami Abubakar whose main contribution was to organise fresh elections and hand over to civilians. But with the return to civilian rule in 1999, it was expected that there would be ample opportunities for addressing the injustice, the abuse of human rights, the repression and the exploitation which had driven the people of the Niger Delta to the wall. Unfortunately, the response of the Obasanjo administration has been characterised by a disconnect between form and substance.

Take the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) set up by Obasanjo administration in 1999 to replace the ineffective Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (1992). This is the ad-hoc structure which is supposed to facilitate development in the Niger Delta by identifying and addressing the urgent needs of the people as a complement to the efforts of the state governments and the Corporate Social Responsibility contributions of the oil majors. There is a lot that the NDDC has been able to achieve: schools that have been built, bridges and other social infrastructure, chairs that have been taken to schools, new access roads, but all these do not amount to much. Years of neglect, inequity and deep-seated contempt make whatever is done for the people of the Niger Delta appear too little too late, and coming from the same Obasanjo that has not shown much sympathy, mere sop.

Besides, the NDDC is grossly under-funded. It is saddled with an assignment that covers about nine states, over 300 communities, each with its own peculiar and costly needs, lack of adequate funding limits its capacity. And because its commissioners are political appointees representing different states and interests, NDDC is further hobbled by the placement of politics before the development agenda. The oil companies are not helping to fund the NDDC adequately since in any case they have their own community development projects or so they claim. The state governments are of no help either. In the last six years, states of the Niger Delta have received more money than at any other time in Nigerian history, but this has not translated into any concrete difference. The youths of the Delta are aware of the existence of the NDDC, but when they see a road there or a school there, and they place that beside the amount of oil that has been taken from the Delta since 1956, they are not impressed. They want more. When they are snubbed or asked to go and ask their state Governors for greater accountability, they get angry.

Take also the government's peace-making strategies: Each time the people revolted either as aggrieved farmers or housewives, both the oil companies and government were wont to negotiate with and make peace with the local elite in the persons of traditional rulers, or youth leaders for whom something is packaged either in form of contracts or cash inducements. Thus, a self-seeking kleptocratic elite has since emerged in the Niger Delta which does not in any way represent the interests of the people. It is even a cheated elite.

The angry youths who have since formed themselves into formidable militias have exposed the limitations of that rent-collecting elite and its manipulation by the state. The other year, one traditional ruler was chased out of town by aggrieved youths who accused him of stealing money meant for the community. Youth leaders have also been sanctioned in many communities. Unlike the rent-collectors, the angry youths of the militias see themselves as revolutionaries. They are the ones now dictating the pace of the politics of the mangrove forest. No one should be surprised that there is no Niger Delta elite who can confidently condemn what these angry youths are doing. Such a leader may find it difficult to return home. So, in that sense, the strategy by the Nigerian state of using selected Niger Delta leaders against the people has failed.

A third grand strategy against the Niger Delta has been the use of violence, and the harassment of the rebels. The scope of repression in the Niger Delta is enormous. Even in ordinarily peaceful circumstances, soldiers are stationed in the region. Ordinary persons going about their businesses are searched. In their own environment, the people are subjected to constant harassment by agents of the state. Human rights abuse in terms of the despoliation of the environment, killings and the pauperisation of the people over the years have combined to create in the average Niger Deltan a feeling of discomfort and resentment towards Nigeria. Between 1996 and 2000 for example, more than five military Task Forces were set up to keep the people of the Niger Delta in check. These include the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force, Operation Salvage, Operation Flush, Operation Storm, Operation Sweep, and Operation Restore Hope. What the militias of the Niger Delta have now advertised is the limits of the use of repression as a tool of state engineering. The militias in the current confrontation are obviously as equipped if not better equipped than the Nigerian army. They are turning their guns and rockets on Nigerian soldiers.

They are mowing down these soldiers and collecting oil company workers as hostages. They are speaking up for all marginalised minorities who are not recognised in Section 55 of the Constitution. They have even given an ultimatum. They want their leader, Asari Dokubo released or by February 1, they would hit at the soft underbelly of the Nigerian state and halt all oil exploration activities in the Niger Delta. If President Obasanjo had thought that by arresting and charging Asari Dokubo to court, the militias of the Niger Delta would be cowed, he is now mistaken. The Niger Delta militias are waging a kind of Holy War against Nigeria. It is a war of nerves. It is a costly war. For every Asari Dokubo that is arrested, there are many more in the creeks who are willing to take up arms. When Asari Dokubo is taken to court, he wears an Isaac Adaka Boro T-shirt. He abuses the judge that is hearing his case. His T-shirt is a symbolic statement. His attack on the judge is an attack on the Nigerian state. So what would the President do? Will he declare war against the Niger Delta? Or a state of emergency? Or will he eat the humble pie?

Now we know: no one has a monopoly of madness. This is the answer to the crazy failure of the Nigerian state to give the people of the Niger Delta an opportunity to articulate and canvass their aspirations. Under civilian rule, the psychological assault has been particularly intense. At the National Conference, delegates from the South -South had to stage a walk-out because the North bluntly refused to entertain their demand for resource control. The 19 states of the North even went to court to challenge the derivation formula. South-South leaders are insisting that the President of Nigeria must come from the South-South in 2007, the Northern elite have more or less told them to shut up.

When the people of the Niger Delta further remind the Nigerian state of their contributions to the Nigerian economy through their ownership of crude oil, which accounts for 90 per cent of national revenue, they are told that the oil belongs to the North. This was mouthed by Northern leaders at the National Conference but it is given an intellectual coverage in a booklet by Yusufu Bala Usman and Alkasum Abba: The Misrepresentation of Nigeria: The Facts and the Figures (May 2000) under what the authors call "the geological and hydrological realities of Nigeria" and "the formation of the Niger Delta". The young men in the creeks hear all these, and they are convinced that the only language that Nigeria can understand is that of violence.

Where now are those loud mouths, those arm-chair geologists who always claim that the oil in the delta is no more than sedimentary deposits flowing from the North to the South. Where are those oligarchs who push the view that the Presidency is too good for the South-South? The Niger Delta is the most vulnerable part of the Nigerian fabric. The present drift requires more creative thinking on the part of the state. Who are the sponsors of the militias in the Delta? How did they manage to smuggle their sophisticated arms into the country? Do they keep any bank accounts? If so, who is their banker? Are there fifth columnists involved? Is the conflict stage-managed? President Obasanjo in six years has succeeded in offending so many stakeholders, should any one or group feel determined enough to ambush and sabotage his government, the easiest battlefield is the Niger Delta where the hunted is now the hunter. If anyone wants to disrupt Nigeria and make it ungovernable, all he needs to do is to rent the militias in the Niger Delta and stop the oil pipelines from flowing. Armed robbers, saboteurs and professional terrorists can also take advantage of the situation. By refusing to allow dialogue on the issues of resource allocation and power sharing, the Nigerian state has created war within its own borders. Until the Niger Delta question is resolved, Nigeria sits on a carton of explosives and turns its face towards fire.

[Musket33]

Hi SaSless,

Thanks for posting another point of view not often heard. When your up to your neck in alligators it's hard to remember your original job was to drain the swamp.

Let's hope this all works out for the best and the Generals don't return to power. Which I put at about 7-3 for at this time.

Cheers