From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
Corruption allegations have rocked the Cross River State Ministry of Environment over the conduct of last Saturday’s environmental sanitation exercise.
This follows allegations that levies belonging to the ministry were paid into private accounts.
A series of posts on Facebook by a journalist, Agba Jalingo, called out the Environment Commissioner, Moses Osogi, over acts of corruption in his ministry.
The commissioner is alleged to have authorised payments by sanitation defaulters into private accounts during the last monthly sanitation exercise, which took place on Saturday, May 31, 2025.
The posts, which have gone viral with receipts of payments into private accounts made public, have been widely shared and have caused disquiet within the state.
However, responding to the allegations, Moses Osogi, the Environment Commissioner, has refuted the allegations in their entirety.
The commissioner said, “At no time have I ever collected or instructed any person to collect any levies on my behalf as Commissioner or as agents of the Cross River State Ministry of Environment and pay the same into any private account.
“The account details and the beneficiary of the said account, whom Mr Jalingo alleges in his Facebook post collected the fine, are also not known to me.
“Therefore, I wish to distance myself, my office, and the Cross River State Ministry of Environment from these misleading allegations,” he said.
He added that a full-scale investigation will be undertaken to ascertain the veracity of the claims.
He also said that, to allow for a thorough and unfettered investigation into the matter, the Ministry has suspended the activities of the Taskforce on Environmental Sanitation until further notice.
The impact of these allegations on the state’s monthly sanitation exercise, held on the last Saturday of each month, remains uncertain. The investigation’s findings will likely determine the future of the ministry’s operations.