Nigeria, Oct. 2 -- If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters. - Alan K. Simpson.

In the theatre of Nigerian public life, integrity is a memory - a thing that was once there but is now minimal in public institutions. And nowhere is this painful truth more evident than in the heart of our national economy - the oil and gas sector.

If you were to conduct a poll among discerning citizens - investigative journalists, lawyers, academics - those whose professions demand a critical analysis of information - you would find a common, unshakeable consensus. The outcome would not be about who to trust; it would be about who not to trust. Forget the name Dangote; forget the current administration....