The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to appear before it and answer audit queries involving over N400 billion in funds meant for the Ogoni cleanup.
The committee issued the ultimatum following HYPREP’s failure to honour four previous invitations over issues raised in the 2021 and 2024 audit reports of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
At a public hearing on Monday, October 5, 2026, Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam, said the latest invitation would be the final opportunity for the project leadership to appear.
Salam warned that if HYPREP fails to appear by Monday, October 12, 2026, the House would invoke its constitutional powers to compel the appearance of the agency’s accounting officer.
“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 stated that the committee is determined to establish how public funds appropriated for the remediation of polluted Ogoniland were spent and to get explanations for the numerous queries in the Auditor-General’s reports.
Those expected to appear are the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Nenibarini Zabbey, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Remediation Trust Fund, who are to address issues relating to the management of the fund.
According to the audit reports, some of the issues requiring explanation include the failure of HYPREP to submit its audited accounts to the Office of the Auditor-General between 2017 and 2021.
Other queries include payment of N7.2 billion for poorly executed contracts, payment of N268 million without prepayment audit, and non-deduction of statutory taxes amounting to N32 million.
The report also questioned the engagement of external solicitors at a cost of N31.8 million without approval from the Attorney-General of the Federation; handling of crude oil recovery from remediation sites without proper documentation; adoption of a progressive salary scale for contract staff; and extra-budgetary expenditure of N931 million.
The Auditor-General further flagged alleged duplication of services through contracts valued at N182 million and duplication of monitoring and evaluation functions involving N507 million.
Also queried were an alleged irregular payment of N43 million for advertisement without evidence of performance, the continued stay in office of an officer after the expiration of his tenure, an unverified payment of N1.5 billion as compensation in the 2024 audit report, non-retirement of N14 million in cash advances, and an irregular payment of N229.1 million, including N260 million paid for a training programme without evidence of execution.
A major concern also listed is the alleged denial of access to N27.5 billion worth of project documents and records required for audit verification.
HYPREP has received substantial public funding and contributions since its inception for the cleanup of Ogoniland, but transparency and accountability in the management of the funds have remained contentious.
