The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has been given a seven-day ultimatum to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over audit queries involving more than N400 billion in alleged financial irregularities
The House of Representatives has given the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) a seven-day ultimatum to appear before its Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and respond to allegations contained in the 2021 and 2024 audit reports of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF).
The committee issued the ultimatum following HYPREP’s repeated failure to honour invitations to appear before it and explain queries involving more than N400 billion in alleged financial irregularities.
The resolution was adopted at a public hearing of the committee attended by 27 members.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam, said the latest invitation was the final warning to the agency after it failed to appear despite four previous invitations.
Salam said HYPREP must appear before the committee by Monday, October 12, 2026, warning that failure to do so would compel the House to invoke its constitutional powers to ensure the appearance of the agency’s accounting officer.
The committee also extended an invitation to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Trust Fund to appear and provide clarification on issues relating to the management of the fund.
According to the audit reports presented before the committee, HYPREP failed to submit its audited accounts to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation between 2017 and 2021.
The reports also raised queries over the alleged irregular award of contracts and non-deduction of statutory taxes amounting to $2.1 million.
Other issues contained in the audit findings include the payment of N986 million for consultancy services without evidence of execution; irregular payment of N315 million for training; and N7.2 billion paid for poorly executed contracts.
The agency was also queried over the payment of N268 million without prepayment audit, non-deduction of N32 million in statutory taxes and the engagement of external solicitors at a cost of N31.8 million without approval from the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The committee further raised concerns over crude oil recovered from remediation sites without proper documentation, the adoption of a progressive salary scale for contract staff and extra-budgetary expenditure of N931 million.
Other queries included alleged duplication of services through contracts worth N182 million and duplication of monitoring and evaluation functions valued at N507 million.
The committee also queried an alleged irregular payment of N43 million for advertisements without evidence of performance, as well as the continued stay in office of an officer after the expiration of the officer’s secondment period.
The 2024 Audit Report also raised questions over an unverified N1.5 billion payment said to have been made as compensation by HYPREP.
Additional queries in the report included the non-retirement of N14 million in cash advances, irregular payment of N229.1 million, and the payment of N260 million for a training programme without evidence that the programme was executed.
The audit report also alleged that access was denied to N27.5 billion worth of project documents and records required for the audit process.
Salam said HYPREP and the Ogoni Trust Fund would also be required to explain issues surrounding the $1 billion reportedly contributed for the cleanup of Ogoniland following the withdrawal of Shell Petroleum Development Company from the process.
He said the committee would seek clarification on the claim by Renaissance Energy Ltd that it contributed more than $900 million to the fund.
