HYPREP paid N1.56bn for Ogoni power-line compensation in October 2023. Two years later its own newsletter said Tai and Eleme were still waiting

On 26 October 2023 the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, the federal agency set up to clean Ogoniland, paid N1,560,490,997.28 by six vouchers "to a consultant for compensation of project affected persons for their land, economic trees and other assets" on the first phase of its Ogoni Power Project. That is the finding of the Auditor-General for the Federation's 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance, Volume II, on page 686. The auditors were shown no valuation reports, no list of verified beneficiaries and no receipts from landowners, and recorded that the whole sum "was paid directly to the consultant without confirmation onward remittances to the ultimate genuine beneficiaries." More than two years later, in its December 2025 newsletter, HYPREP quoted its own technical adviser saying compensation along the power line was "up to 80% completed" in Khana, "in progress" in Gokana, and only "approved by management" for Tai and Eleme.

HYPREP was created to carry out the United Nations Environment Programme's 2011 assessment of oil pollution in Ogoniland, and sits under the Federal Ministry of Environment. The power project is its own addition to that mandate: a 62 km 132kV double-circuit transmission line and two 60MVA substations, at Wiiyaakara in Khana and at Bodo in Gokana, meant to connect Ogoni to the national grid. HYPREP's website says the work was contracted in December 2022 with a reviewed timeline of 24 months from commencement, and its April 2025 newsletter says President Muhammadu Buhari flagged it off on 28 April 2023, with Energovod Engineering Limited as contractor. The audit puts the contract sum at N27,585,439,410.13. The line crosses 24 communities in four local government areas: Eleme, Tai, Gokana and Khana.

Vero Record read the eight pages on HYPREP in the Auditor-General's report, pages 685 to 692, which cover the year from 1 January to 31 December 2023. We set them against four issues of the HYPREP Herald, the agency's monthly newsletter, downloaded from hyprep.gov.ng: November 2024, April 2025, December 2025 and May 2026. Each issue opens with a column by the Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, who has led HYPREP since May 2023.

The audit's first finding is the N1,560,490,997.28 payment. Against it, the report records HYPREP's answer as "No response." The auditors asked the Project Coordinator to account for the sum to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly, "being payment for compensation of project affected persons without evidence of onward remittance to the ultimate beneficiaries", and to recover and remit it to the Treasury.

A second compensation payment went to the builder. On 23 February 2023, the audit says on page 688, HYPREP paid N229,111,590.00 to the main contractor for the line and substations, recorded as compensation for land acquisition, although compensation "was not part of the contractor's contractual obligations" and had been "separately assigned to a firm engaged as consultants for that purpose." HYPREP did answer this one. It said the Project Coordinator of the time authorised Energovod to pay compensation at the two substation sites, N48,346,270.00 at Wiiyaakara and N180,765,320.00 at Bodo, which add to N229,111,590.00. The auditors called the answer unsatisfactory. Taken together, the two payments come to N1,789,602,587.28 for compensation by the end of 2023, 6.49 per cent of the contract sum.

The audit itself suggests the counting of affected property was not finished when the larger sum went out. Its second finding, on page 687, is that HYPREP advanced N14,032,000.00 to two staff "for the purpose of enumeration of crops, economic trees, and other assets between 7th November and 31st December, 2023", after the 26 October payment, and that the advances had not been retired.

HYPREP's newsletters describe the same work as still under way long after that. In November 2024 Professor Zabbey wrote that HYPREP had completed the survey of the powerline right-of-way, had "paid compensation for crops and assets along the right-of-way in the Khana local government area" and was "about to compensate the asset owners along the right-of-way in Gokana LGA. After that, we shall proceed to Tai and Eleme." In April 2025 he wrote that HYPREP had "valued the assets, economic trees, and crops along the route" and that efforts "are in top gear to compensate the property owners"; another page of the same issue says compensation "has been made to some asset owners and others to be paid soon." In December 2025, 767 days after the October 2023 payment, his column said compensation "has been paid in Khana, and that of Gokana is ongoing, to be followed by Tai and Eleme", and his technical adviser on power, Dr Joseph Aadum, put Khana at up to 80 per cent.

The two records do not fit easily together. The audit describes one payment, in October 2023, for compensation on the whole first phase, the line and both substations. HYPREP's own account has the route survey finished by November 2024, the valuation done by April 2025, and owners in two of the four local government areas still unpaid in December 2025. The documents do not say how the N1,560,490,997.28 was worked out before that valuation, whether the consultant still holds part of it, or whether the payments HYPREP describes in 2024 and 2025 came out of it or out of later money. These records appear inconsistent, and those are the questions the auditors put to HYPREP.

The audit has three other findings on the project. N260,000,000.00 was paid to a consultancy firm to train 600 people in electricity distribution with, the auditors say, no attendance registers, reports or photographs; HYPREP replied that the training took place and that the report and attendance list, submitted by Petro Extra Energy Services, were in an appendix. The auditors also say HYPREP denied them the contract files, vouchers and award records for the N27,585,439,410.13 contract. HYPREP disputes that: it says the officers were given the cash book, vote books and payment vouchers, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had recalled the file before they arrived, and that by then only the 30 per cent advance, the compensation and the training had been paid, "not 27 billion claims." The auditors found both answers unsatisfactory. The four money findings add to N2,063,634,587.28.

The record supports HYPREP on several points. Its newsletters show a project that has moved: imported cables and equipment arrived in 2025, four 60MVA transformers were delivered by December 2025, and the May 2026 issue says that, "having paid compensation for the wayleave", tower installation between Wiiyaakara and Bodo is under way. Paying compensation in stages as surveys finish is an ordinary way to clear a right-of-way, and the agency may hold records that close the gap the auditors found. Responsibility is also split. The N229,111,590.00 payment of February 2023 was made under Dr Ferdinand Giadom, who was replaced as Project Coordinator in May 2023. The N1,560,490,997.28 payment of October 2023 and the unanswered audit query fall under Professor Zabbey.

The documents establish what the auditors found in HYPREP's books for 2023 and what HYPREP has since told the public in its own newsletters. They do not establish that any money was stolen or diverted, and no court has made any finding on this project. The audit does not name the consultant; HYPREP's response lists compensation vouchers paid to Energovod and to Mike & Bah Nig. Ltd, but the pages read do not say which voucher went where. HYPREP's mention of the EFCC is its own statement, and the record shows no charge. The newsletters give no naira figure for compensation actually paid to owners, and whether the Public Accounts Committees have taken up these queries is not in the documents.

We invite a response from HYPREP's Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, and from the Federal Ministry of Environment, in particular on how much of the N1,560,490,997.28 has reached landowners in each of the four local government areas. Any response will be published in full.

What this rests on

AuGF 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance Vol. II, HYPREP section, report pp.685-692 (PDF pp.250-257 of the file used), period 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2023. Issue 1 (p.686): N1,560,490,997.28 paid by six vouchers on 26 Oct 2023 to a consultant for compensation; Management's Response: No response. Issue 2 (p.687): N14,032,000.00 advances for enumeration of crops, economic trees and other assets between 7 Nov and 31 Dec 2023, not retired. Issue 3 (p.688): N229,111,590.00 paid to the main contractor on 23 Feb 2023; HYPREP breakdown 48,346,270.00 (Wiiyaakara) + 180,765,320.00 (Bodo) = 229,111,590.00. Issue 4 (p.689): N260,000,000.00 training. Issue 5 (p.690): contract sum N27,585,439,410.13. Compensation total: 1,560,490,997.28 + 229,111,590.00 = 1,789,602,587.28; 1,789,602,587.28 / 27,585,439,410.13 = 6.49%. All four money findings: 1,560,490,997.28 + 14,032,000.00 + 229,111,590.00 + 260,000,000.00 = 2,063,634,587.28. Days from 26 Oct 2023 to 1 Dec 2025 (first day of the December 2025 issue's month): 5 (to 31 Oct 2023) + 366 (to 31 Oct 2024, includes 29 Feb 2024) + 365 (to 31 Oct 2025) + 31 (to 1 Dec 2025) = 767. HYPREP Herald Nov 2024 p.1 (The PC's Desk): Khana paid, Gokana next, then Tai and Eleme. HYPREP Herald Apr 2025 pp.1 and 3: assets valued, compensation to some owners, others to be paid soon. HYPREP Herald Dec 2025 p.1 (The PC's Desk) and p.6: Khana paid / up to 80%, Gokana ongoing, Tai and Eleme approved by management. HYPREP Herald May 2026 p.1: wayleave compensation paid, tower installation under way.

What this does not establish

The documents do not establish theft, diversion or any crime; no court has ruled on this project. The audit does not name the consultant paid N1,560,490,997.28, and HYPREP's response does not say which payee received which voucher. The records do not show how the sum was calculated, how much of it reached landowners, whether the consultant holds a balance, or whether HYPREP's 2024 to 2026 compensation payments were funded from it or from later releases. HYPREP's newsletters give no naira totals for compensation paid. The EFCC's recall of the file is HYPREP's statement only; no charge is in the record. HYPREP's website progress figures are undated and were not relied on. Whether the Public Accounts Committees have heard these queries is not in the documents.