Amid mounting discontent over the sluggish progress of environmental cleanup efforts in Ogoniland, a respected traditional ruler, Chief Anthony Waadah, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in the region and initiate a forensic probe into the operations of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.
Chief Waadah, who serves as the Gbenemene of Legbo Kingdom and also leads the Association of Ogoni Business Owners in the United States, issued a strongly worded open letter to the President.
In it, he accused HYPREP of “egregious mismanagement and abuse of office” and lamented the agency’s alleged failure to fulfill its mandate of cleaning up and restoring the polluted Ogoni environment.
He appealed to President Tinubu to dismantle the current HYPREP leadership and governing board, describing the body as a channel for siphoning off funds intended for the region’s recovery.
“It is imperative that President Tinubu takes immediate action to address the systemic corruption and incompetence that has plagued HYPREP since its inception,” the monarch said.
According to Waadah, contracts are routinely handed out to firms lacking both expertise and capacity, often awarded to the same politically connected companies.
He claimed that HYPREP has veered from the original United Nations Environment Programme guidelines, diverting resources to projects that offer little direct benefit to the afflicted communities.
In a particularly damning accusation, the traditional ruler alleged, without supplying proof, that some of the cleanup funds were stashed in a Swiss fixed deposit account, with interest earnings left unaccounted for.
“Instead of accounting for the money spent so far, they claim that the federal government has not contributed its counterpart funding. This lack of transparency and accountability is unacceptable,” he said.
Chief Waadah also took aim at HYPREP’s handling of the region’s long-standing water crisis, criticizing the agency for attempting to rehabilitate water pipelines dating back to the 1950s rather than investing in new, modern infrastructure.
He warned that many Ogoni communities still rely on contaminated water sources, calling the situation a “ticking time bomb.”
In his open letter, the monarch made several key demands: a comprehensive forensic audit of HYPREP, immediate dissolution of its management, transparency in contract awards, leadership roles for qualified Ogoni professionals, and urgent intervention from anti-corruption agencies such as the EFCC, ICPC, and Code of Conduct Bureau.
He also renewed his call for an emergency declaration in the region.
He emphasized the importance of community-led oversight in the cleanup process, insisting, “It is only logical that those affected be allowed to manage the efforts to restore their land.”
