How Senators Asked For N200m Bribe During My Screening As Minister

When I became Minister of Youth & Sports, one of the earliest shocks I encountered was not the complexity of governance, but the entrenched culture of corruption that had become normalised within our public institutions.

I remember vividly my first budget defence before the National Assembly. After presenting the summary of my ministry's budget, I expected questions about the figures, the programmes and our implementation strategy. Instead, I was confronted with a demand that had nothing to do with governance.

I was asked to raise ₦200 million.

I looked through the budget documents before me and replied that I had not seen any budget line titled "bribe." I told the committee that since no such provision existed in the ministry's appropriation, I had no idea where they expected me to obtain ₦200 million to satisfy their demand.

My response was obviously not what they wanted to hear.

Rather than continue the discussion, they simply told me, "Okay, Mr. Minister, you are excused. We will take it up with the Permanent Secretary."

From that day onward, my role in budget defence became largely ceremonial. I would only be invited to present the broad highlights of the ministry's budget, after which I would be asked to leave while the committee continued discussions with the Permanent Secretary behind closed doors. I was deliberately excluded from the detailed budget sessions because I had refused to participate in an illegal arrangement.

As time went on, I came to understand that this was not an isolated incident but part of a deeply entrenched system. A committee chairman later told me that some ministers, especially those considered close to the Presidency, routinely settled these demands to ensure their budgets passed without unnecessary obstacles.

This experience opened my eyes to how corruption can become institutionalised. When oversight is transformed into an avenue for extortion, accountability is compromised, public resources are diverted, and the integrity of governance is eroded.

That is precisely why I continue to argue that many of the scandals we witness today do not emerge in isolation. They flourish because institutions that should serve as checks and balances have themselves become vulnerable to illicit financial interests. When the budget process is driven by kickbacks instead of national interest, fraud, abuse and institutional failure become almost inevitable.