Q&A: Kirkuk Gov. Najmaldin Karim

Kirkuk province, like the rest of Iraq, is in a development stand-still as the depressed oil price has cut state revenues and the fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS) group has taken priority for spending.

Najmaldin Karim, the governor of Kirkuk, where Iraq's first commercial oil well was discovered nearly 90 years ago, insists that his province be compensated for the oil it produces for export. But money is scarce, and – following the collapse of a collaborative oil deal between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad – the federal government is no longer receiving revenue from Kirkuk's exported crude.