Festus Keyamo, the former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has dismissed reports that he collected bribes from job seekers during his tenure in office.

Keyamo made the denial on Monday while speaking during the ministerial screening on the floor of the Senate, chaired by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

The ministerial nominee from Delta State said he didn’t benefit from the Public Works Programme during his tenure at the Ministry of Labour and Employment in the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Keyamo emphatically stated that the record of the beneficiaries of the N52bn Public Works scheme which was requested by the 9th Senate is domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and can be downloaded to ease accessibility to verify the information as provided.

The former minister, therefore, apologized to the Senate for any misunderstanding surrounding the obscurity of information around the fund disbursement.

Earlier, some lawmakers during the screening challenged Keyamo for refusing to honour invites by various committees in the 9th Senate and 9th House of Representatives led by Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila respectively.

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in his petition charged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to suspend Keyamo’s screening until he acknowledged that the Senate can summon and question any Minister and his/her Ministry.

The development eventually saw lawmakers in the Senate proceed into closed-door plenary after a rowdy session.

Upon resumption of the screening, Keyamo apologised to lawmakers for his actions and was later screened and confirmed.