Foreign oil workers in Nigeria highest paid in the world

A typical oil and gas executive in Nigeria earns nearly half a million dollars (about N80 million) a year, chalking up the biggest premium for working abroad over salary levels in Britain, research released yesterday showed. Those who have watched developments in the country with keen interest said the high pay is possibly responsible for risk appetite of foreigners who prefer to work in the creeks during the days of militancy in the Niger Delta.

According to George Olodo, a social commentator in Lagos, such a pay could make anyone defy the high level of risk to work in a very risky area.

But Oteme Uzeme, a retired oil worker, wondered why the pay for expatriate should be that high in Nigeria, which is relatively less risky than Iraq and even Libya.

A typical senior oil and gas employee in Nigeria will receive a supplementary country premium worth 45 per cent of base pay, taking the total salary of $454,400 a year, a study by the Curzon Partnership recruitment consultants showed.

This trumps packages for executives working in Libya or Iraq, who could expect a total salary of around $354,900, the research found, said Reuters.

Oil and gas workers from developed nations working in Nigeria are paid well because of the number of projects that need international staff, local skills shortages and big cultural differences, the firm said.

"Whilst Lagos is an exciting and well established place to work for expats, oil and gas companies recognise that the incentives have to be high, because life as an expat in Nigeria is so different from countries with broader industries and higher standards of living," Helen Di Mauro, a partner at the Curzon Partnership, said.

Oil industry executives in Indonesia can expect a premium of 40 per cent in Indonesia, 35 per cent in Ghana and 30 per cent in Libya, Kurdistan or Egypt, the research found.

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Canadian based Cable network to broadcast Nollywood content

Hollywood has officially lost its title as second largest film industry in the world after Mumbai, India's Bollywood to Nigeria, West Africa's Nollywood, according to a survey taken by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in 2009.

The growing global popularity of African films around the world has created a demand for African content on television.

In April 2012, for the first time on Canadian cable television, Canadians will be able to access and watch African movies, drama-series and entertainment programming on African Movies and Entertainment Television (AMET TV) in partnership with independent Canadian broadcaster, Channel Zero.

Following Black History Month's celebrations, and being reminded of the crucial contributions to society by African descendants in Canada, it would appear as though the great honour would be reflected with positive images on television.

Unfortunately, Canada has lagged in representing programming that showcases and targets its African, Caribbean population on television.

The need for presenting African culture is evident with the approval for a second Afrocentric school in Toronto.

Whether in cultural appreciation, education or entertainment, AMET TV's main mission is to make African content accessible to Canadians who have been neglected as consumer audiences.

Starting on April 29, 2012, AMET TV will broadcast African Movies and Drama Series on Cable Networks: Rogers Channel 122, Bell Canada Channel 207, Videotron Channel 614. AMET TV programming line up is as follows: Every Saturdays; African Music Videos Show between 6pm to 7pm, African Drama Series between 7pm to 8pm, African Movies between 8pm to 10pm and every Sundays, African Gospel Vibes between 2pm to 3pm.

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Arik Air suspends stops Abuja-London flights

Arik Air said it is suspending its daily service between the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and London Heathrow Terminal 4 effective from March 25. This follows the inability of the airline to secure slot allocation.

It is the availability of slots that empowers an airline to undertake flights at a particular time and land at a particular time. Arik Air has been battling with this issue since it commenced service from Abuja to London Heathrow Airport.

Nigeria and Britain had been renegotiating the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) to ensure reciprocity on the route.

Arik Air said it was compelled to suspend its services on the route following the inability of the UK and Nigerian governments to come to agreeable terms on the BASA. Under the terms of the BASA, Arik Air was allocated seven frequencies per week in respect of the Lagos/ London, Heathrow service and seven per week for the Abuja/ London, Heathrow service. That is a total of 14 frequencies out of 21 available for Nigerian carriers under the BASA.

However, an anomaly exists between access to slots in the respective countries with the Nigerian government matching the allocation of slots with frequencies, thereby giving UK carriers unfettered access to its full complement of 21 slots at Abuja and Lagos airports.

However, this is not reciprocated in the UK with the authorities drawing a distinction between allocation of frequencies and access to slots, claiming that an application for landing slots at UK airports is a process separate from the BASA entitlement.

From the inception of the route in November 2009, Arik Air has been in a slot-lease agreement with a UK carrier, leasing arrival/departure slots on the Abuja-London route at Heathrow.

At the end of the summer schedule (October 2011), the UK carrier that Arik Air was in the slot-lease agreement with for this route advised the airline of its intention to sell the company and began to wind down its contractual arrangements with Arik Air. Without these commercially arranged slots Arik Air was forced to suspend operations at the start of the winter schedule.

Immediate discussions were held by the respective governments to resolve the long-existing and underlying anomaly in the BASA. As an abridgement, the UK authorities facilitated the temporary continuation of the commercial lease of these slots in support of Arik Air's Abuja-London, Heathrow operation. This interim solution was only available up until March 25, (2012).

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of both governments, no solution has been found. The situation remains as it was at the end of October 2011 with Arik Air having no landing/arrival slots after March 2012, thus forcing it to suspend the route.

Dr. Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, group CEO/president of Arik Air, commented on the suspension of the Abuja-London route: "Whilst it is regrettable to have to suspend our services between Abuja and London, we simply could not continue with the route due to the restrictions placed upon us in accessing arrival/departure slots in to UK airports.

It is an unfortunate situation and one that we felt was being resolved at government level and we hoped that an agreement would have been reached before the start of the summer schedule. Due to the stalemate we are therefore forced to suspend this route.

"We support any dialogue that will take place in the future between the governments on this issue and we stand ready and waiting to commence when asked to and when we feel that the imbalance had been satisfactorily redressed. Our main priority is our passengers and it is disappointing to discontinue such a critical route and reduce capacity between the countries which gives less availability to the Nigerian traveller.

However, we would like to assure our customers that we are fully committed to the UK market and will continue as normal on the Lagos-London Heathrow route with our flagship A340.

When contacted, the SA, media, to the minister of aviation, Mr. Joe Obi, said that the ministry is studying the development and would issue a statement in due course.

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Nigerian government begins talks with Boko Haram

Nigeria's government and Islamist group Boko Haram have been in indirect talks to end deadly violence blamed on the extremists, two sources familiar with the discussions said Friday.

"There have been preliminary talks between a Boko Haram-appointed intermediary," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Boko Haram has set out terms for a temporary ceasefire.

A diplomatic source said there have been contacts between Nigeria's government and Boko Haram through intermediaries.

The security official said Boko Haram has proposed a three-month truce if all of its detained members are released and if the government halts any further arrests. He said the government was looking at the proposal.

Government officials either declined comment on the information or could not be reached.

Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of shootings and bomb blasts, mostly in northern Nigeria, which have killed more than 1,000 people since 2009.

It claimed responsibility for an August suicide attack at the UN headquarters in the capital Abuja which killed 25 people and for coordinated bombings and shootings in Nigeria's second city of Kano on January 20 which left 185 people dead -- its deadliest assault yet.

The group had initially claimed to be fighting for the creation of an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, but its aims and structure have since become less clear, while its attacks have grown increasingly deadly and sophisticated.

Calls have mounted for talks to take place, with Nigerian authorities seemingly unable to stop attacks blamed on Boko Haram that have shaken Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.

While there have been no attacks on the scale of the Kano carnage since January, sporadic violence has continued, including bombings of police stations and attacks on checkpoints.

The group is believed to have a number of factions, but the indirect talks were said to be with the main branch of the group led by Abubakar Shekau.

Last week's killing of a British and an Italian hostage in northwestern Nigeria was blamed on a splinter faction of Boko Haram, though many have expressed doubts over the group's alleged involvement.

Boko Haram had not been previously known to carry out kidnappings, and a purported spokesman for the group has denied responsibility.

There has been intense speculation over whether Boko Haram has ties to outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda's north African branch.

Diplomats say such links have been limited to training for certain Boko Haram members and that there has been no evidence of operational ties.

According to the security official, one of the intermediaries for the indirect talks was a northern cleric trusted by Boko Haram.

"The problem is not about the sect's readiness for dialogue, but winning their trust and confidence that the government is genuine in its intentions because they still have the fear of betrayal and back-stabbing on the part of the government," the official said.

"The leaders are afraid that they could be arrested once they come out for direct talks. The major hurdle is to win their confidence that nothing will befall them if they show their faces."

The diplomatic source could not provide details, but said there had been "real contacts" between the government and Boko Haram through intermediaries.

A previous attempt to engage Boko Haram in talks early last year failed when Boko Haram objected to the demand that they surrender their arms as a condition for a peace agreement that would have involved an amnesty, the security official said.

Those talks were mediated by a former state governor, he said.

Nigeria's 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

AFP

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