REPS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM HYPREP OVER OGONI CLEANUP FUNDS
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By ‘Balogun Ibrahim
The House of Representatives has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to appear before its Public Accounts Committee and respond to audit queries concerning the management of more than ₦400 billion allocated for the cleanup of Ogoniland.
The ultimatum followed HYPREP’s failure to honour four previous invitations from the committee to provide explanations on issues raised in the 2021 and 2024 audit reports of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Speaking at the committee’s public hearing on Monday, which was attended by 27 members, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam, said the latest invitation would be the final opportunity for HYPREP’s project coordinator to appear before the lawmakers.
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Salam warned that failure to appear by Monday, October 12, 2026, would prompt the House to invoke its constitutional powers to compel the agency’s accounting officer to attend.
“This is the final warning. We have invited HYPREP on four different occasions and they have failed to appear before this committee,” Salam said.
He explained that the committee was determined to establish how public funds approved for the remediation of Ogoniland were utilised and obtain explanations for the numerous queries raised in the Auditor-General’s reports.
The committee also summoned the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Remediation Trust Fund to respond to issues concerning the management of the fund.
Among the concerns raised in the audit reports was HYPREP’s failure to submit its audited accounts to the Office of the Auditor-General between 2017 and 2021.
The 2021 audit report also questioned the alleged irregular award of contracts and failure to deduct statutory taxes amounting to $2.1 million. Other queries included ₦986 million reportedly paid for consultancy services without evidence of execution and an alleged irregular payment of ₦315 million for training.
The report further raised concerns over ₦7.2 billion paid for allegedly poorly executed contracts, ₦268 million paid without prepayment audit and the non-deduction of ₦32 million in statutory taxes.
Other audit queries involved the engagement of external solicitors for ₦31.8 million without approval from the Attorney-General of the Federation, the recovery of crude oil from remediation sites without proper documentation, the adoption of a progressive salary structure for contract staff and extra-budgetary expenditure of ₦931 million.
The Auditor-General also flagged alleged duplication of services through contracts valued at ₦182 million, as well as duplication of monitoring and evaluation functions involving ₦507 million.
The committee was further informed of an alleged irregular payment of ₦43 million for advertisement without evidence of performance and the continued stay in office of an officer after the expiration of his secondment.
The 2024 audit report raised additional queries, including an unverified ₦1.5 billion compensation payment, failure to retire ₦14 million in cash advances and an alleged irregular payment of ₦229.1 million.
It also questioned the payment of ₦260 million for a training programme without evidence that the programme was executed.
Another major concern was the alleged denial of access to project documents and records valued at ₦27.5 billion that were required for audit verification.
The committee is also expected to question HYPREP and the Ogoni Remediation Trust Fund over the management of the $1 billion reportedly contributed towards the Ogoni cleanup following Shell Petroleum Development Company’s withdrawal from the project.
Lawmakers are particularly seeking clarification over claims by Renaissance Energy Limited that it contributed more than $900 million to the fund.
The Ogoni cleanup followed the United Nations Environment Programme’s assessment of extensive oil pollution in Ogoniland, after which the Federal Government established HYPREP to coordinate environmental remediation and related livelihood restoration programmes.
The project has received significant public funding and other contributions, making transparency and accountability in the management of the cleanup funds a recurring issue.
Salam said the committee would not allow the audit queries to remain unresolved, insisting that the summoned officials must provide the necessary records and explanations.
He therefore directed HYPREP and the Ogoni Remediation Trust Fund to appear before the committee and respond to the outstanding queries within the stipulated seven-day period.
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