In Nigeria you will need to do the air law exam and a medical and then the NCAA will issue a validation on your licence. They no longer issue Nigerian licences to expats. Normally a straight forward part of the process of joining a Nigerian based operator.

As a Commercial Pilot , I have gone through the hoops in South Africa. Its the same with an ATP. You take the Air Law Exam ($$) and the next step is a Checkride ($$). All goes well you get a Validation that is good for the length of your current FAA medical.
Air Law is a one time exam but Validation is done every medical. So for an FAA ATP with FAA Class 1 be prepared to pay for a validation every six months. One reason to have a fresh Medical when doing this. By the way there are FAA recognized Doctors in South Africa, I do beleive a bit stricter than most here in the states.
Controversy as to ATP or Commercial in that I suggest if you only need a commercial, only validate that part as its good for 12 months. Friends there say get the ATP and spend a bit more every six months then you dont have to have another check ride to upgrade......
My Email is good should I be able to help.

Civil War in Nigeria coming???
 

Nigerian Militia Threatens Armed Struggle


By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer

LAGOS, Nigeria - A militia group in the Niger Delta will launch "a full-scale armed struggle" to wrest control of the region's oil riches from the Nigerian government starting Oct. 1, the group's leader declared Tuesday.

Military spokesman Col. Ganiyu Adewale played down the warning, calling it "an empty threat" from a group that officials routinely dismiss as criminals.

Militia leader Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, who heads the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, warned oil companies that all their employees would be targets and he advised foreign embassies to pull their nationals out of the southern region.

"We will start a full-scale armed struggle" on Oct. 1 — the 44th anniversary of Nigeria's independence from Britain — Dokubo-Asari told The Associated Press by telephone.

"Any part of Nigeria, wherever we have the opportunity to strike any target, we will strike," he said on a day when crude oil prices topped $50 per barrel for the first time.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer, the world's seventh-largest exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. Nearly all Nigeria's daily oil exports come from the Niger Delta region.

The violence in Nigeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has put added pressure on prices of crude at a time when oil is already at historic highs.

Although it's difficult to determine the militia's strength, Dokubo-Asari claims to command 2,000 fighters and to have the support of tens of thousands more armed ethnic Ijaw fighters in the region. His group has battled government troops in the delta since April.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's government says militia members are gangsters who illegally tap pipelines and sell the oil to buy arms and fund criminal activities.

But Dokubo-Asari claims to be fighting for the self-determination of more than 8 million Ijaws, the dominant tribe in the delta.

"We will target government infrastructure and oil company personnel," Dokubo-Asari said. "Oil facilities will not be targeted since it will endanger the environment."

But Adewale, the military spokesman, played down the threat.

"All oil installations are being manned by the armed forces and oil workers are safe. The military is there to contain the situation. I foresee no problems at all," he said.

Dokubo-Asari alleged that local subsidiaries Royal Dutch/Shell, Italy's Agip and other oil multinationals in Nigeria have provided government troops with helicopters and maps that aided the bombardment of rebel camps hidden among the delta's creeks and mangrove swamps.

On Sunday, Dokubo-Asari's fighters said only helicopters belonging to Agip had helped government forces target their positions.

Shell's Nigeria unit said Tuesday in a statement that it regularly supplies Nigeria with maps as part of its regulatory obligations, but that it hasn't supplied new charts to any group since the crisis began.

Shell, which accounts for roughly half of Nigeria's daily production of 2.5 million barrels, said it had shut down an oil flow station in the Niger Delta that pumps 28,000 barrels a day because it could not get staff there to fix a "technical problem."

"The security situation in the swamps of the eastern area of operation of the Shell Petroleum Development Company is still tense, and the risk of water transportation is high," the company said in a statement.

A representative of Italy's Eni SpA, Agip's parent company in Rome, said it had no plans to evacuate staff from Nigeria and added its exports of about 200,000 barrels of oil daily would not be affected.

Nigeria's military launched its latest offensive against Dokubo-Asari's fighters early this month in response to deadly raids by his militia into Nigeria's main oil industry center, Port Harcourt, in August.

Since then, army helicopter gunships and troops in gunboats have raided and bombarded 10 towns and villages considered militia strongholds, resulting in dozens of deaths, militia leaders say.

Amnesty International said at least 500 people were killed in August alone in fighting involving rival militia groups and the army in and around Port Harcourt.

Dokubo-Asari has said his fighters will only lay down their arms if the government convenes a "sovereign national conference" to discuss self-determination and greater control of oil wealth by the inhabitants of the region.

Widespread violence in the delta often results in severe disruptions to oil operations. In March 2003, fighting between rival ethnic militia groups in the west of Niger Delta near the oil port city of Warri — which drew in government troops — forced oil companies to shut down 40 percent of Nigeria's exports for several weeks.

Oil prices topped 50 USD already....think this will help?

What say you 212Man....combat pay for night runs to the Bush Bar?

Hey, you can't live in a tropical paradise and not have some drawbacks...............

Recently saw a documentary on PBS about the disparity between the populace in oil rich nations between the very rich and very poor (there isn't really a middle-class to speak of). Some very interesting commentary about Nigeria specifically. I've never been to West-Africa (only Kenya and Egypt). What's the deal and is this a credible threat or is it more of the same history? Your thoughts on legitimacy of the group's claims and how this will effect rotorcraft operations (keeping it helicopter related)?

Depends upon whether you are buying or selling ;)

Lets see.What do we need to get a war going.
Oil....OK
Money.....Yep
Africa..Sounds Good

Just a matter of time, before we hear someone singing. "From the Halls of Montezuma"...in Lagos

Bert....if you are keeping up on the latest news from DOD...they already have an offshore presence in the area....an an island base approved for operations.

It is interesting how many Non-Nigerian warships can be seen in the waters there.

I hope they don't start a war yet - General Oompaloompa still hasn't sent me my US$29 million that he promised me in an email. I sent him $30,000 for the expenses, and I want to get my investment back soon...:8

Disguise
Go to the "Campfire" forum, (below African Aviation) there is a thread there with all kinds of 419 scams.
You can send me the 30k

OIl, did somone mention Oil, well that done it, Aunty Toni and Uncle George will be throwin a real humdinger of a shindig down there soon,

Mention" Oil" and you'll get their attention! are there any Fox's down there?

Vfr:cool:

Nigerian Noblemen
 

For all you compadres out there in the field, I just got the weekly Nigerian newsflash wired into my email account. Some Watumba always got a juicy and heart breaking story on the rack. And always the same story. The poor soul not able to contact the deceased, crashed, crippled by some virus unable to spell the vowels, etc ...Enjoy


Dear Sir/MADAM,
I am Barrister Frank Obi, a Solicitor to a Mr Fredrick who used to work with shell development company in Nigeria, on the 21st of April 1999,
my client, his wife and their three children were involved in a car
accident along Sagbama Express Road that claims the lives of all occupants of the vehicle. It was very sad news and since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives which proves unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts I, decided to trace his
relatives over the Internet, to locate any member of his family but of no avail, hence I contacted you. I have contacted you on trust to assist me in receiving the money left behind by my client before the bank he has an account with get money confiscated or declared his money as unclaimed fund following the bank policy. Particularly, the Bank where the deceased had an account valued at about $10.5 million dollars has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin of my client or have the account confiscated within the next ten official working days.

Since l have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you are bearing or having the same surname with my late client so that the proceeds of the transfer of this money valued at $10.5 million dollars can be paid to you as his next of kin for our mutual benefit. The sharing percentage is as follow if only you will be faithful and honest to assist me, 30% for your assistance as next of kin, 65% to me and remaining 5% should be for expenses or tax as your government may
require.
All necessary legal documents that will back up your claim of this
money will be secured by an attorney on you behalf. All I require is your
honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee you that this business will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me by my email to enable us discuss further steps to follow and please
for confidential reason forward your reply to my private email
[[email protected]] or call [234-803-566-7539] for verbal
discussion.


Best Regards,
Frank Obi.[Esq.]

____________________________________________________________ _____
Diese Email wurde Gesendet, mit der Kostenlose E-mail Adresse von
www.anima24.de ihre

:}

I copied that one to the 419 scam letters on the Campfire Forum.......

Has anyone ever heard of someone actually falling victim to these emails?

I can't believe anyone would be that gullible...:hmm:

Nigerian scams
 

To Lead Zeppelin;

Actually I wouldn't be so sure about it of people not falling for this scam. Otherwise it would not come through. I get these messages at least twice a week...and the stories are getting kinda dull because it's always the same. But in a world of greed and evil I think there are folks out there trying to squeeze the commission out of it. Bet a dime on it, it ain't me. ;)

Led Zep.. The answer is YES and in the Millions of Dollars. In the states they have a Task Force set up to combat these letters which used to arrive by snail mail, now with the internet they are really having fun.....
Some people have more money than brains and do fall for this.
Check out all the letters as posted on the Campfire Forum under 419 scams.

Delta Scammers
 

to B Sousa;

Actually, I get jealous. I always have plane and car crashes with the sweet referal to a cnn or bbc web page. Man, you had a new twist. The story where the dude apparently got something in his thingy and in the esophagus really wraps me up.:p

By the way I forgot to add something. With people obviously falling prey to these juicy baits wouldn\'t it be possible for terrorist organizations to shift money around to undisclosed accounts. As in Quaida Network. Would not surprise me at all. Use the bank account of some fool to organize the big thing...kinda scary:uhoh:

Hey 212Man....tell us about the "Money Laundering Scheme" at Warri....the one where the Club Manager was gonna scrub "Dollars" and then the paper could be re-used for bigger notes or some silly thing. Led to a rapid departure from Warri for him and his Missus!

Oh yes.....people do fall for the schemes!

lead zeppelin asks: "Has anyone ever heard of someone actually falling victim to these emails?
I can't believe anyone would be that gullible..."

Yes, many people all over the world have fallen for the scam, and even more have been tempted.
By coincidence, I received this e-mail from a friend this morning. The forwarded message included a scanned copy of what purported to be Mr. Xxxxxx's Death Certificate.

My reply included these links:
www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/.../nigeralrt.htm

My friend's no gullible country boy. He was brought up in a big American city, is (normally) very street-wise, and has lived in many different countries in the 20 years he's has been an officer in the US Navy Seals.
But notice how, although he says he's 'skeptical', he still says (referring to the 50/50 split) "Personally, I think it is o.k. as I am doing nothing (apparently) and receiving some money."
It reminds me of the definition of conman I was given years ago by a successful conman I met professionally (on an occasion when he was caught):
A conman is someone who sells nothing for something to people who want something for nothing."

There's a lot of truth in that. ;)

SASless,
I was just about to mention it, though not directly referring to anybody! I know of a recently departed contracter (not for that reason) who also fell for it.

Scam goes; for some reason, a perfectly honest person has several hundred thousand dollars in cash in his possessions which he cannot take out odf the country. He therefore uses a special dye that disguises the money as blank paper (sort of grubby grey colour) and this can be removed with a special solvent.

Then it all goes a bit vague (never actually had the story first hand) but somehow the solvent can't be found in Nigeria and it all gets to difficult, so they decide to sell the 'money'. Hapless expat is approached and offered this 'money' at discounted price. A demonstration is given showing miraculous apperance of 50 dollar note from grubby paper, with what little solvent remains, and full details of what they need to do are given.

Happy expat walks off about 20 grand down and the proud owner of a box of very low grade paper cuttings!

I saw the box a few months ago that this contracter had left behind.

To really add to the fun, you can say you don't have enough cash to buy the 'money', at which point a local loan shark will offer to lend you the money on the proviso that you pay him back from your freshly washed (laundered?!) cash. Needless to say he isn't too impressed by your excuses, when you discover the truth, and threatens nasty things. That's the time to make a swift exit (as SASless aluded to)

Strange, but true! Scary thing is these are supposedly intelligent people doing well paid jobs.

I gather there's a cease fire being discussed...