The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has again called on the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari to institute an investigation into the massive looting and corruption in the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to build citizens’ confidence in the anti-corruption campaign of the government.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke made the call in a statement at the MOSOP headquarters in Bori at the end of a MOSOP executive committee meeting..
Nsuke said the government will be showing more practical commitments to build a more united and prosperous society when it listens to the views of its citizens and take their concerns seriously.
The MOSOP president said government silence on the massive corruption in HYPREP does not show it is concerned about how the people feel.
While insisting that there had been massive looting of the Ogoni cleanup funds, Nsuke called on the government to dissolve and reconstitute the governing structures of HYPREP to pave way for an independent investigation into the contract scandals.
“What has happened in HYPREP is that the members of the governing council have awarded contracts to companies in which they have interests. It has been more about personal interests and political patronages than real concerns to clean Ogoniland and deliver quality service” Nsuke said.
He further said “We think government should be very concerned about these scandals and institute a probe rather than being silent because the people have lost interest in the entire cleanup process”
The current attempt to by members of the governing council to steal the funds meant for the cleanup of Ogoniland is a huge scandal and dent on the credibility of the anti–corruption campaign of the present government and we think the government should be very concerned about that.
Nsuke said “what is happening in HYPREP is stealing and we think it is the responsibility of government to look into all these allegations if they are truly concerned about how we feel as Ogoni people and as Nigerians”
“The government cannot be silent when we are complaining of deprivations particularly in the case of the Ogoni cleanup which seriously affect our livelihood and our future.We have warned that the cleanup project is endangered and the integrity of the program has been compromised and we think government should take that very seriously” he said.