Not all harmattan

[TheBull1875]

Not supposed to be any fantastic pics, but just to let you see some of the landscape around here.

[Pol]

Re: Not all harmattan

Interesting, thanks. It looks like quite a pleasant place to spend your days. Good place for some dramatic pictures too.

What's the red flower in the third picci?

And why shouldn't you have your hands in your pockets when walking on the site? Is that a health and safety issue?

Pol

[rogleale]

Re: Not all harmattan

It all looks far too clean and modern to me - it can't really be Nigeria!
I spent two years in Port Harcourt just after the Biafra war finished and it was horrific there. People have probably forgotten about the Biafran War of Independence fought because the South, Biafra, had oil and millions of educated and intelligent people who knew what would happen if central government got control of the oil fields and production. The worst factor was that the Biafrans are mainly Christian or animist, and the occupying army was mainly Muslim troops from the North who did exactly what they wanted to the locals. I was too scared to use my cameras because they would have been taken as trophies.
The Harmattan was a real problem for us in the oil industry business. Our helicopters were mainly converted ex-Royal Navy machines and not meant for such work, with no air filters, on quite fragile engines. The Harmattan dust collected on the compressor blades and greatly reduced the power of the engines, which meant a prolonged pressure water wash every evening and sometimes twice a day. The problem is greatly eased with the new helicopters.

Sorry, just a bit of nostalgia!

Roger

[Barr1e]

Re: Not all harmattan

Interesting, thanks. It looks like quite a pleasant place to spend your days. Good place for some dramatic pictures too.

What's the red flower in the third picci?

And why shouldn't you have your hands in your pockets when walking on the site? Is that a health and safety issue?

Pol

Interesting.

Similar questions.

Golf too I see.

Regards. Barr1e

[Pops]

Re: Not all harmattan

Nice to see some plant life among the structures

[TheBull1875]

Re: Not all harmattan

Lot of good comments there. To Pol first, the flower is Ixora. I have tried to inject a bit of colour by planting the camp up even though it is only supposed to be a temporary camp and disappear once we have finished building. Dry season is just starting, hence the Harmattan, and the flowers are just starting to bloom. Ixora is used also as a hedge and whilst I don’t think the hedges are going to be superb this year, I am looking forward to next year when they have grown a bit. Also comes in other colours. Lots of photo opportunities is also correct, however the hassle of getting permits to go on site with a camera, coupled with the equatorial daylight hours makes it pretty damn impossible to get out and take piccies during the working day. HSE work in mysterious ways their magic to work Pol  No idea. As Rog would, I have no doubt, agree, safety is not really something that is ingrained in the Nigerian psyche. Here, we have rammed it home since the beginning, but sometimes they get over zealous. Having said that we have not had a lost time incident for 16 months which in the construction industry is World Class so maybe it is working I needed the golf course. Also the tennis, basketball and volleyball are pretty well used. Unfortunately most expats are overweight, drink to excess and do not exercise  That silly little golf course gets built together like a plastic jigsaw and then the plastic grass laid on top. A lot of fun to be honest but damned expensive.

Roger, I have been in and out of Naija since 1972, so just missed the Biafran war. Interestingly, a paragraph in today’s threat assessment says the Federal Government is about to pay out the pensions due to the soldiers who fought in it. As you say it was mainly northerners which are still predominantly Muslim to this day. Most of the ethnic violence now is in the mid and North of the country and it is daily that we hear of Boko Haram killings. We have kind of negated the Delta problems by engaging the communities around us, hence the building costs escalations up to nearly $9 billion. The vast majority of the Youth Leaders now have companies supplying us with various stuff and actually working for us. Not to be confused with the thousands of alleged ex militants that the government has retrained and now pay a salary to so as they don’t kill anybody!! I was based in “The Garden City” for three or four years as well and never has a place been so wrongly named 

The reason the Camp is nice and clean is because it is my responsibility!  Could show you bad parts as well though. Labour camp, 16 in a room, 20 rooms in a block. Horrible horrible place and totally against my wishes however totally out voted and this is what we have. Harmattan still causes problems. Last year I could not send anyone home on rotation by plane for 5 days. A lot of unhappy bunnies I can assure you, especially just before Christmas. Also no choppers running so could not even rotate them through Warri. Thankfully I was not due to go home. I am this year though!!