What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)

[SASless]

Management Skills and Bristow seem to be independent concepts. But what the heck, they have been successful at their jobs or they would not still be around would they. Perhaps they will seek a waiver for the dinosaurs in their management staff just to be able to continue their good work as in the past.

[Mama Mangrove]

Time to Close This Thread?

I am informed that NEO is no longer posting on this thread, which I started some years back, because of unfair censorship by our new moderator, so maybe it's time to wind up the thread and if someone else wants to start something similar they can do so. What's the feeling, NEO or heavy-handed moderating?

The original MM

[biggestboy]

My vote - Neo

[VSOP]

Fire the moderator.

[SASless]

NEO binned? Tell me it ain't so! He seemed to be a role model for propriety which is all the more surprising having known him in his younger days as a newbie to Nigeria. Shame as he is in a position to confirm/deny most rumours brought forth here.

I'll leave a light in the window for him!

[Codger]

Keep NEO

Explain to the mod that Lagos Nigeria has different rules than Lagos Portugal.

Edited: I used the words rules and Nigeria in the same sentence. Mutually exclusive...

[rotorboy]

Well I am suprised it took this long. and I am glad I wasnt the first one to mention it. The other night I was just think about how much this fourm has changed.

I have been posting on this board for a few years and in the last 6 + months I have been rather turned off by the moderation. PPrune and rotor heads has always (IMO) been a loose place to post topics of general interest ( either directly helicopter or some how assoicated to our lives. I persoanlly dont like how the new moderator chooses what he thinks is best and what is relevant. If it is not relevant, dont click on the the thread, dont move it, dont read it or just move on. It seem to me if it is just a little out of the norm post and thread bet binned or moved.

I agree moderation can be a good thing, when post get vulagr or way out of wack, but this is a loose public fourm and rumor network. One person shoudnt decided what goes or stays. Espically since many frequent posters have been around a lot longer than the moderator .

The power trip just gets to some people. It is what it is.

I have been follwoing this thread closely for he last couple of months as Africa looks like it is in my future. It would be a shame for it to be closed, but I can appreciate the point.

Who knows maybe Ill get binned after my little rant.

Mr Moderator, relax a bit, have a stiff drink and take a valium. There is no need to be wrapped so tight around the axel.

I miss Heliport.
Rotorboy

[Senior Pilot]

Interesting: where did you get your rumour from, MM? I haven't moderated any of NEO's posts, nor "censored" him in any way. He last posted here at the end of May, and he removed that post plus a few others of his own accord in response to my general request:

Originally Posted by Senior Pilot

Do you girls want to take your handbags out the back of the bike sheds and leave this as a Rotorheads thread, please?

I hadn't realised that we had such sensitive souls that such a post would be offensive

I'm not the only Moderator here, and sometimes we have Higher Authority moderate in areas that I (and others) miss, but the PPRuNe rules are fairly clear: you all signed up to them when you registered!

After 10 years on PPRuNe, plus too long in Warri/Pt Harcourt in a previous life, I have no desire to close this thread

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

I was mildly chastised having disagreed with another post for what the Moderator appeared to think was a criticism of the poster's command of English.

I removed that post and advised that I was waiting for all other argumentative posts to be removed from the forum. This post was arbitrarily removed with no explanation.

I feel this type of moderation is high handed and far too restrictive. Other threads have far more freedom of expression without interference. Indeed this thread used to enjoy the same latitude.

Mama, thank you for bringing this issue out into the open. It seems I am not the only one who has noticed (and been a victim of) a change in the manner of moderation of the thread.

However I believe it would be a great shame if it was closed. It has been an excellent source of rumour and information for those having an interest in this part of the world and should coninue to be.

Perhaps a more gentle approach to moderation is called for ? I hope Senior Pilot views my observations in the spirit of Pprune. This is not a personal slight in any way.

NEO

[Thridle Op Des]

Keep the thread!

It remind me how the other half live and how fortunate I was to escape (after the second go). It is also particularly good for lurkers like myself to keep an eye on the trials and tribulations of friends and ex colleages in West Africa.

Regards

TOD

[Senior Pilot]

Originally Posted by NEO

I was mildly chastised having disagreed with another post for what the Moderator appeared to think was a criticism of the poster's command of English.

I removed that post and advised that I was waiting for all other argumentative posts to be removed from the forum. This post was arbitrarily removed with no explanation.

Now you're being silly, and overly sensitive. My reply, which I quoted in my last post, was to a number of posters who went off topic. After you (NEO and two others) took the hint and deleted the OT posts, your final post (NEO) became orphaned, and irrelevant, hence its deletion by me.

NEO, your comments are noted, but please don't try to make out that I've censured you or your posts. They're all still there, and can be read by moderators: they tell a slightly different story to that being implied here by MM and NEO. I read all the posts here with interest and amusement: let's get back on thread, and enjoy the input of those at the coal face

[Mama Mangrove]

Let Battle Continue

Well, discussion appears to be continuing. I hope NEO will continue to post as he now has. Let the battles continue

MM

[darrelsdregs]

Management, Caring, Communication

Glad NEO is continuing. I expect that managing the problems that we Darrel's dregs just leave to people like him makes him a bit pi$$ed sometimes. He's the one who has to take the flak after Bristow management pay one of their rare visits, cluck over the poor state of the kitchens, agree that we have no facilities, tut over the state of the night standby rooms, agree that we should have better internet so at least we can communicate at a speed faster than slug speed, then promptly go away, make some small concession and think we're all going to be pathetically grateful at being part of the most profitable operation in this country. Meanwhile the big oggas in Lagos all behave exactly as they always did with the Majah and PeeWee isolated in their comfortable office but doing things their own way and causing national pilots to leave for Aero. Now it's rumored Caverton are getting 412s, I wonder how many will leave for them?

Back in Houston I guess they all think that everything here's hunky-dory, that the entire focus of our lives is Target Zero and that we believe Bristow really does communicate and keep us in the loop. The truth is that there's no communication with us here, except occasional one way communication (or diktat) from totally out of touch Human Resources people.

On the subject of Human Resources, we get no communication at all from our so-called HR Manager in Guernsey. Over here, we're not employed by Bristow, but by a shabby little outfit called British Island Airways Guernsey Limited, or BAIGL. The arrogant, stuck-up ex RAF guy who runs that place refuses to ever answer any mails from lowly dregs like us. We're lied to about our pension scheme and one of the guys here is now threatening to sue if we don't get some answers about what's happening to our money.

Oh yeah, this is a real happy little place

[JFRozier]

darrels,

Well done for telling it how it is. Lagos is dreadful enough in the garbage known as the BRC (British Retiree Camp), but I sure Eket is even worse as at least the BRC has some sportings facilities. The only way Lagos is worse is that the CLA is rubbish and just pays for 3 poor meals a day, but I'm told that in Eket you can now have 3 lousy meals a day free and have a bit to spend on drinks to help you forget your troubels

this is intersting about the pension. What is being done with it? I know British companys in the past have stolen funds and Robert Maxwell I think stole evertything.

[212man]

NEO and I joined BHL on the same day, and I'm sure he will be back here either under his nom de plum or an alternative. I suspect a misunderstanding...........

[Captain Buck]

Things Can Only Get Better

Jomo Gbomo, one of the regular spokesmen for MEND has just this weekend sent another 2 e-mails showing that attcks are not only going to continue, but escalate after the recent success of the militants in shutting down the Bonga, previously thought untouchable because of its distance offshore (around 70nm):

From: Jomo Gbomo
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2008 4:25 PM
Subject: Chevron Pipeline Attack

Heeding the MEND call to sabotage oil installations in oil producing communities, a group of angry youths have contacted us giving details of their involvement in the sabotage of the Chevron Abiteye-Olero crude pipeline.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta wishes to commend these patriotic youths who we are now empowering with more powerful explosives and new techniques to destroy additional pipelines inside Delta state.

The government still has time to save face by releasing Henry Okah to partake in a genuine peace process before Nigeria's oil export reaches zero.

Yar'Adua should not be deceived by the criminals within the armed forces who are pushing him to enter into a fight for their own selfish interest as we don't see how the military can emerge victorious in guerrilla warfare and tactics.

For decades we have been deceived and exploited by the criminal Nigeria state. To those youths who are willing to fight for freedom, MEND welcomes you.

Long Live the Niger Delta!

Jomo Gbomo


From: Jomo Gbomo
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 7:35 PM
Subject: Declaration of War!
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) considers the empty threat made by an illegal commander-in-chief of an inept armed forces of Nigeria as a joke.

For underrating our capabilities, the military has been ridiculed world wide after the attack on Bonga. If they want to further expose their weaknesses, then we challenge them to launch an attack on any of our positions.

An attack on any militant position is tantamount to a declaration of oil war. The type of war they are expecting is far from what we plan to engage in.

In order to avoid being caught in a cross fire, we are asking all expatriate oil workers to vacate oil facilities and living quarters in the Niger Delta while we settle our score with an insincere Federal government.

We call on all patriotic youths in the region to sabotage oil facilities in your communities while those willing to be trained to fight are welcome in our training camps. Any community close to MEND camps that harbours security operatives or spies does so at thier risk and such traitors will be punished.

Long live the Niger Delta!

Jomo Gbomo

Meanwhile, it's highly probable that highly qualified graduates will soon help the government in getting out of this mess if yesterday's report by the News Agency of Nigeria of a speech by the General manager of Agip is anything to go by

The General Manager, Nigerian Agip Oil Exploration, Mr. Richard Ogunde, on Friday in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State said Nigeria’s oil reserve had only 43 years to dry up.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ogunde made the disclosure in a lecture at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. Quoting from the latest World oil data, Ogunde said Nigeria’s reserve remained 36.2 billion barrels.

He said in the lecture, titled “Petroleum Exploration, The Economy and Science Education,” that Nigeria had a yearly oil production capacity of 2.3bn barrels.

The oil expert advised government to start looking for other oil reserves. He urged the Federal Government to seek other means of sustenance after oil might have disappeared, “especially now that we have abandoned agriculture.”

The geophysicist accused successive governments of conniving with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to misdirect, mismanage and mis-apply the country’s oil revenue without commensurate infrastructure growth. He criticised the NNPC for engaging in the direct sale of petroleum products by setting up retail outlets in different parts of the country.

Ogunde, who said that Nigeria had remained “poor despite our being rich in oil dollars simply because some people are just habitual bad managers of the nation’s resources,” regretted that the country still suffered from poor energy supply after the exploration of oil for over five decades.

He said, “Unfortunately, if there is no electricity, you cannot develop infrastructure. When a nation fails to develop her infrastructure, there is no way her economy can grow.” He also described the graduates of oil-related courses from the Nigerian universities as “half-baked and unemployable.”

NAN quotes him as saying that many of the job-seeking graduates of Geology and Geophysics with high-class degrees did not even understand simple practical terms in oil exploration and processing. He said, “The situation was so bad that when I interviewed well over 200 of these so-called brilliant geologists and geophysicists, I found less than 10 of them worthy of consideration.”

Ogunde expressed regrets that his findings had also revealed that more than 99 per cent of the graduates were not ready to meet the difficult challenges existing in the oil industry, warning that “the sector does not have room for layabouts who professed to be super-graduates.”

[swamp_dwarf]

Who are they fooling?

Are these strapping youths rewarded with 70 virgins? Long live the Delta...bah....MEND does apparently not realize that they dig their own graves by polluting themselves.

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Senior Pilot,

I think as 212man says there has been a misunderstanding on my part. Let's allow bygones to be bygones, water under the bridge and all that jazz and move on. What do you say ?

I for one would be saddened if this thread were to close, it has been and continues to be a valuable source of information for those working and living in this part of the world and many who are looking to give it a try. Plus, as you said, those who have done their time and like to keep in touch can have a look at their old stamping ground.

NEO

[Senior Pilot]

NEO,

Fine by me: MM seems to be the protagonist for thread closure, not me!

It's probably all SASless' fault, anyway, for replying to your post

[MamaPut]

LLLL?

Is RL still staying on with Aero or will he be redeployed by CHC? I'd say a great deal of the future morale and pilot numbers in 'New Aero' will depend on what his contribution to Aero was, is viewed by the new managers.