re: Six Shell workers killed in se Nigeria

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I was there in '04 through '05. For Shell in fact. Worked on finishing the Bonga for them. Landing in Legos for the first time is quite the experience. We were hustled through customs and security to vans with curtains on the windows and strict instructions to NOT open the curtains. Two cop cars in front, two in back. Took a 45 minute ride through Legos to the Eko Hotel. Stayed the night then flew out of Snake Island the next morning to the FPSO for a 6 week hitch. Finished that gig and said never again for Nigeria.

RIP men.

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Who did you work for?

I worked on Bonga back then and did three trips to Lagos and Port Hartcourt.

People here have no idea how good we got it. You want to see TRUE poverty and corruption, go take a vacation there.

I was offered a job over there for a 3 year stint. I turned it down, despite it being almost triple my stateside salary.

frick that noise.

I worked in 4 African countries during my career. I rate them as follows:

Equatorial Guinea (Malabo) - Relatively safe. Had a drivers license and was allowed to drive around. Former Spanish colony.

Angola (Luanda) -
Relatively safe. VERY overcrowded but you could tell the city was a pretty cool city when still under control of the Portuguese.

Chad (N’djamena and Kome) - pretty safe. Had a drivers license and allowed to drive. Biggest concern were rebels from Sudan. Evacuated once. Former French colony.






Nigeria (Lagos, Port Harcourt snd Calibar) -
Whole country is over populated, poor and very aggressive. Always shaking you down for anything they can get. No real rule of law and kind of a free for all. True shithole country. Former British colony.!

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People here have no idea how good we got it. You want to see TRUE poverty and corruption, go take a vacation there.

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This. After being there it's hard to take anyone complaining about the US seriously.

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I did my year in Angola. Shithole but I hear it’s one of the better shitholes.

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Glad your parole came through!!

I have a bil that worked in Lagos for Exxon Mobil for 5 years.He worked in office mostly but when they went out in the field they were escorted by heavily armed guards in a convoy..
I knew couple of Nigerian Drs,,good Drs.,smart and good personalities.

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Always hear this is one of the crap places to work in Africa.

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Lagos was once the most dangerous airport in the world, and may still be today.

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Can you share a few?

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They were always under the threat of kidnap, but just for ransom, the company always paid and no one was ever hurt. They were evacuated on on a somewhat regular basis from threats of escalating violence around them. They had armed chauffeurs that would drive them from their "compound" to work. The Americans were always under surveillance and they alway felt like their chauffeurs were working both sides, just waiting for the signal to round everyone up as they were really the only security they had. He lived in a military type compound with the rest of the foreign employees, and they would hear/see mortars and fighting pretty close to them on a regular basis.
He spent 30 years over there, and was already pretty strange to start with. He only came home to the states a handful of times over his time there, and would travel Europe on his vacations, mostly.
He came home a very disconnected, mentally ill person though. Made millions upon millions of dollars that he never spent a penny of other than vacations, and now lives in a completely empty 4000' house and sleeps on a camping mattress on the floor.
I go see him a few times a year (my dad died of brain cancer 10 years ago at 58) and he talks to his cousin in Oregon from time to time. Other than that, he is a hermit.