President Muhammadu Buhari has allegedly directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to carry out a “full-scale investigation” into the service period of Dr Ferdinand Giadom, as Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP.
HYPREP is the Federal Government Agency under the Federal Ministry of Environment, tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, 2011 Report on the Clean-Up of Ogoniland following decades of oil pollution.
Part of the UNEP report estimates that the “countering and cleaning up of the pollution and catalyzing a sustainable recovery of Ogniland could take 25 to 30 years.”
According to a well-connected source in The Presidency as well as the Federal Ministry of Environment, conversant with the development, who spoke on condition of anonymity, President Buhari’s decision to have Dr. Giadom period of service probed was “to determine what actually happened under him.”
The source said that “Dr. Giadom had made some claims that his sack was due to his anti-corruption posture while serving as HYPREP Project Coordinator and with such claim, Mr. President is determined in ascertaining how “transparent” the sacked Coordinator was.”
But against the reported claims by Dr. Giadom that his anti-corruption fight cost him the job, some media had reported that his sack was rather due to some alleged financial malfeasance traced to him by Federal agents.
Aside other alleged sleazes traced to the sacked appointee, it was also learnt that Dr. Giadom reportedly purchased a property valued at over One Billion Naira, in his name.
Another source said that “While other corrupt public officers in Nigeria would use fronts or proxies to make such acquisitions, Dr. Giadom bought the building by himself and made payment of such a magnitude in his name while serving as HYPREP Project Coordinator.”
President Buhari had since appointed Prof. Nanibarini Zabbey the new helmsman of the multi-billion Naira Agency.
