“A lot of ministers pay billions and billions to get themselves appointed. The first thing they think of is how to recoup that money,” Alwan Hassan, a spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, has alleged.
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Hassan made the claim during a television interview while defending President Bola Tinubu’s approach to government expenditure and responding to questions about budget implementation and public spending.
He argued that successive governments had continued to entrust large public funds to ministers despite what he described as longstanding problems of corruption and abuse of office.
According to him, the Tinubu administration’s tighter control over expenditure was deliberate and, in his view, intended to prevent the misuse of public resources.
“There is a conscious policy,” Hassan said, arguing that although budgets are approved, the government does not necessarily release funds in the same manner as previous administrations.
He praised what he described as the President’s direct involvement in expenditure management, saying: “The way Asiwaju is hands-on on the expenditure of our revenue is fantastic, and I love it.”
Hassan then made the more controversial assertion that some ministers had spent huge sums to secure appointments and were consequently motivated to recover the money after assuming office.
“A lot of ministers pay billions and billions, you know, to get themselves appointed. The first thing they think of is how to recoup that money,” he said.
When the interviewer pointed out that the statement appeared to amount to a criticism of ministers appointed under the APC government, Hassan said his comment was not limited to the current administration.
“It is a truth I’m telling you about our country. Not just APC, before APC,” he said.
He further claimed that ministers often featured prominently among public officials prosecuted for alleged corruption after governments left office.
“The biggest people, the biggest fraudulent people you arrest after every government are ministers,” Hassan said.
Hassan did not name any minister, provide documentary evidence of payments for appointments or identify any specific person who allegedly paid money to obtain a ministerial position.
His remarks came during a broader discussion on the Tinubu administration’s performance, public-sector reforms, electricity, education, pensions and the APC’s preparations for the 2027 presidential election.
Earlier in the interview, Hassan defended the administration’s record in the power sector, arguing that improvements would take time and pointing to government investments in electricity metering.
He also cited what he described as improvements in public education, including the renovation of schools, provision of classrooms, digital facilities, water and security infrastructure.
On public service reforms, Hassan said the administration had addressed longstanding pension liabilities and introduced an exit benefit scheme for retiring civil servants.
He maintained that the APC would campaign for the 2027 election on the Tinubu administration’s record and what he described as progress in technology, infrastructure and public-sector reforms.
However, his allegation that some ministers pay billions of naira to secure appointments and subsequently seek to recover such expenditure stands out as one of the most consequential claims made during the interview.
No evidence was presented during the interview to substantiate the allegation, and no individual minister was identified as having paid for an appointment.
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