As quite a few members know my father works for Mobil in Nigeria.

Recently he has been having troubles with a certain person (a contractor) that is trying to extort money from Mobil by saying he has not been paid for three months which is certainly not the case (he is also asking for far more money than the contract was for)

Unfortunately my father has been on the receiving end of this stick and has had been abused by this person and has been threatened by him (that he won't be safe at work, on the way to work at home etc) and even went as far to try and stop my father getting up out of his chair so that he could hold him hostage, he left after this for reasons unknown at this stage.

This guy didn't even have a valid pass to be on the premises so that tells you how pathetic Mobil's security is , so what is the best way of dealing with this?

Well i would recommend that he louge a police report, and giving strict instructions to the guards not to allow the contractor to enter the premises. Well about the away from work threats the only help me might be able to get is from the Nigerian police. And i am sure they would be very helpful

He emailed and called security about it and they took it as a personal insult and that he was commenting they weren't doing there job properally so pretty much said they wouldn't do anything.

People in the oil-producing areas can be very violent, so I'd advice your dad to bribe the policemen if he needs to.

strict company policy prevents it because they have been caught out before for millions because they are "destabilizing" nigeria.

He needs to find a way to settle the disagreement amicably then. That may mean apologizing on behalf of the company, saying "we're looking into it". It may mean asking the company to pay the man, then coming back to tell him, "well, I told my bosses to pay you but the greedy people refused, saying they have already paid you. I'm so sorry; let's just be patient pray that God will minister into their hearts ...".

Some how I don't think saying we already paid you is going to work....

You don't understand.

The contractor is angry with Shell, and not your dad. It's not your dad that's supposed to pay him, right? So your dad has to dissassociate himself from Shell by saying, "well I told my bosses to pay you but they wouldn't listen".

Do you get it now?

When I talk to him tonight i'll pass that on, apparantly he has called dad up and told him he won't be safe at work, at home in Eket or in nigeria and has told him that he should leave nigeria....

Its such a pity that there is still no security of life in Nigeria. In this age and time? someone can take the laws into their hands and the security operatives cant really do anything about it. Real pity. @ hidden_hunter... I agree, the faster your dad dissociates himself from shell, and show empathy for the contractor, the better at least the contractor complained, it would have been different if he kept quiet and went ahead to use fetish methods. Wish u all the best

it's hard to dissociate your self with mobil when you live in one of their housing estates.

Even Steve Balmer (CEO of Microsoft) can say thinks like:
"I'm sorry but Bill insists that we can't do this. I'll try to get him to change his mind ... I'm so sorry, he still saying he won't agree ... I'd really love to help you, but my hands are tied ... put yourself in my position: you're a contractor, but I am just an employee and I can't do anything unless my bosses agree ..."

well said Seun, you are a proper naija man

It is very sad to hear that in a multi coporation like that things like that still happens. i mean this sounds so primitive (sorry to say) but i mean you had a business deal, and if the transaction was followed properly, why should the guy be harrasing your dad not only that why should the company even hear this guy out the second time. if things were legally recorded then that is their proof, they could easily go to court and have things cleared or they should have receipt of payment, just anything to show that the contract with them had ended. but then the question is who do u trust?!!!

seun said:

The contractor is angry with Shell, and not your dad. It's not your dad that's supposed to pay him, right? So your dad has to dissassociate himself from Shell by saying, "well I told my bosses to pay you but they wouldn't listen".

I think its MOBIL not SHELL we are talking about.

And I don't upport the idea of outright bribery...diplomacy not bribery

When the security of a person is at stake the issue of whether the only means of potentially saving the person's life is right or wrong becomes less important to me.

......Well said,Seun!

First things first.
I'd suggest your father obtains evidence of this threat e.g he could secretly record any of such threats made to him.
However it's a pity that it present day nija, we still have such instances of bullying.
Nija is unfortunately still a jungle in many ways, so another advice I can give is if your dad can't play the play, then it won't be a bad idea for him to take a much needed extended break from the "hectic working hours"- if you know what I mean.
Also consider prayers and faith. It works.

@Red whoever you are, I will like to ask you if you have ever stepped on Nigerian soil before. This is a nice country inspite of its flaws and believe me more people are killed every day in the US than in Nigeria.

@Hidden_Hunter The police is not a refuge cos they can be bought (sad to say but true.). I have no helpful suggestions because in this case you are not nigerian and some of my suggestions will not work. I suggest your father makes his own security arrangement and brings the threat to the attention of other people on the board of the company to see what they can do. It won't be a bad idea to involve the EFCC (new watchdog) cos it has a financial nature. Consider all options and do what is best, It would not be the best for ur father to lose his life cos he wants to do his job.

kodewrita:

@Red whoever you are, I will like to ask you if you have ever stepped on Nigerian soil before. This is a nice country inspite of its flaws and believe me more people are killed every day in the US than in Nigeria.

@Hidden_Hunter  The police is not a refuge because they can be bought (sad to say but true.). I have no helpful suggestions because in this case you are not nigerian and some of my suggestions will not work. I suggest your father makes his own security arrangement and brings the threat to the attention of other people on the board of the company to see what they can do. It won't be a bad idea to involve the EFCC (new watchdog) because it has a financial nature.  Consider all options and do what is best, It would not be the best for your father to lose his life because he wants to do his job.

Thats a joke right?more people die in the US?wow

@Red What do you expect from a country filled with designer drugs, where one in four residents has a gun? contrary to what you watch on CSI and other cop shows american police are not as good as potrayed and the number of unsolved cases far outweighs the solved cases.

Decent people live where i stay and even though the bad eggs (which are everywhere) still commit crimes, there are lesser number of people killed per day compared to the US. Most cities in nigeria apart from Lagos, Abuja, PH and other major cities have lower death rates due to murder than the US.

kodewrita:

@Red What do you expect from a country filled with designer drugs, where one in four residents has a gun? contrary to what you watch on CSI and other cop shows american police are not as good as potrayed and the number of unsolved cases far outweighs the solved cases.

Decent people live where I stay and even though the bad eggs (which are everywhere) still commit crimes, there are lesser number of people killed per day compared to the US. Most cities in nigeria apart from Lagos, Abuja, PH and other major cities have lower death rates due to murder than the US.

I think you are the one who believes in fantasy.

@kodewriter
More cases unsolved than solved? must be a joke. Even at the airports the diffrence in security level is clear.

so to elaborate on the subject of the post then....

how safe is for an expat working in Lagos (non oil related industry...)...??

maybe some of the expats shouldnt be in nigeria. i hear the go over thier quotas anyway and dont hire enough nigerians

maybe some of the expats shouldnt be in nigeria. i hear the go over their quotas anyway and don't hire enough nigerians

I think that might be a topic for another thread...probably I would agree with you...although I don't know how a European company will open a branch factory in Nigeria (creating more jobs) without having at least at the beginning expats...to settle the whole project down and pass on the know how...

Still tho...doesn't answer my question how safe...or better what a white expat has to do and not to do..to remain safe in Lagos...

nigeria has plenty of know how. they don't need all those expats. The best way for them to keep safe is to play fair and hire poeple from the lands they exploit

i seriously think that Seun's suggestion at making an attempt to dialogue is better. Some of these contractors take things too personal and far. I had the same experience.

i was in a postition to influence the award of a contract in my company worth over =N=80million some months ago, one of the contending contractor thought i will naturally award it to him because he used to know me. Well my boss awarded it to some1 else whom he was sure will not trade off quality. The guy took it personal and threatened me for that. I reported it to my boss and the guy was called and my boss explained what happened to him. He was given a another contract though a smaller one. So let tell ur dad to explore dialogue option with the guy and made it known that he is different from Mobil.

You had better look into home security for your home so you and your family would be safe from any attacker. see diy-home-security-cctv.50webs.com for more details.

Decent humans reside area i break and even admitting the bad eggs (which are everywhere) still accomplish crimes, there are bottom amount of humans dead per day compared to the US. Most cities in nigeria afar from Lagos, Abuja, PH and added above cities accept lower afterlife ante due to annihilation than the US.

_________________
Home security systems