The Public Accounts Committee of the Senate has summoned the Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, to appear before it within seven days.
The committee is demanding explanations on how the N7bn earmarked for the project was arrived at. At a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, the committee said it issued the ultimatum because Zabbey had spurned several invitations extended to him.
Specifically, the committee is demanding explanations on the utilisation of N1,100,000,000 in HYPREP’s 2022 budget and an additional N16,683,000,000 in 2023 for some undocumented contaminated sites.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed, said Zabbey has up till 4th February to appear before, stressing that stiffer legislative actions would be taken against the HYPREP boss if he failed to honour the invitation.
The committee also raised questions about the utilisation of funds in HYPREP’s 2024 budget, especially concerning remittances it claimed to have made to the Federal Inland Revenue Service and others for the years 2022 to 2024.
Senator Wadada added that HYPREP must further provide insights into appropriations for the clean-up project and other intervention funds and how much it has so far received from the federal government.
“As you know, based on the constitutional responsibilities of this committee, we are scheduled to take the position of coordinator of HYPREP today. But unfortunately, he is not here again. And this is not the first invitation to HYPREP. Based on the response that the committee had or got from him on the status inquiry.
“This is the schedule of the invitation extended to the coordinator of HYPREP. And he wrote the committee on 12 January 2023 to extend his reason for not being able to respond to that invitation. And the reason was that he had an earlier engagement.
“The committee extended understanding and expected him on the 15th of January 2024. Also, he did not respond, and the reason was that he had to accompany his own minister to a function. The third invitation was on the 28th of January 2024, which he did not show up and no response was communicated to the committee,” Wadada said.
The Ogoni clean-up project was established to address the environmental challenges in Ogoniland, in line with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Senate Panel Summons HYPREP Coordinator Over N17bn Ogoni Clean Up Project is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Source: The Whistler
