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THE debate on the rot in the oil and gas industry and what to do to stop it has been on for quite some time now. Often times some of the debaters marshal their arguments with a lot emotion and strong conviction that is oblivious of all the actual facts of the matter. Sometimes the argument is shallow simply because most people genuinely do not know how the oil and gas industry operates. This can be seen in the effort of some governors who at times present just an aspect of the figures from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to bamboozle and work up the public who are already aggrieved by the perceived corruption that pervades the industry.

But the truth or rather the facts are often very different from the lies, which having been repeated for the umpteenth time seem like the truth. Beyond this, lies a lot of ignorance on what really transpires in the in the industry where operations are  without doubt opaque even though not in the way people often think. It always appears that the more one looks or tries to understand what goes on in the industry the less or very little one sees or grasps. The worst aspect is that those who know what’s happening in the sector are very reluctant to open up and educate the public just because they are obey the principle of self-preservation, save themselves from witch-hunt as a result of backlash of saying it as it is.

This being so, what then happens is that only government officials or those perceived to be  their protégées attempt to make whatever argument they put which do not convince the public of the actual goings on in the sector. This made Realnews editorial team to search out one of the insiders in the industry who understands all the dynamics in both the upstream and downstream sector of the oil sector where a lot of corruption has been alleged to exist. In doing this we got Barry Esimone, president of the Crusteam Group, who has been in the industry for more than a decade and has handled some national assignments too to shed light on all the shady areas and enhance the knowledge of our readers on what transpires in the sector which has been inimitably causing fuel scarcity, fuel subsidy crisis, economic meltdown and how the challenges can be resolved. He spoke with characteristic earnestness and unusual candor how fraud is perpetrated in the sector and by whom in the detailed exclusive interview he had with Realnews which is on our cover story for this week entitled: “Rot in the Oil Sector: How DPR, Navy Collude with Asians to Defraud Nigeria”. It is a must read as well as very educative. Enjoy it.

Maureen Chigbo

Editor

Email: mechigbo@yahoo.com  |  mechigbo@realnewsmangazine.net

Tel: +234 8033487603, 8052528603

— Jul 13, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT

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