Anambra State Government has accused former governor of the state, Peter Obi, of making false claims about the debt profile and financial records he left behind when he left office in 2014.
The state government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, on Wednesday, alleged that eight external loans contracted during Obi’s administration had an outstanding balance of N127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026, while also challenging his claim that he left over N2.13 billion in an ecological fund account.
The statement was issued in response to a recent post by Obi on what he described as “Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy”, which the former governor appeared to have made in reaction to comments by the state Commissioner for Finance.
Mefor said the state government considered it necessary to respond because the issues involved public funds and debts that the present administration was still servicing.
He said records from the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that eight external loans obtained during Obi’s tenure remained outstanding as of June 30, 2026.
The loans, according to the statement, were for the Malaria Control Booster Project, Third National Fadama Development Project, Health System Development Project II, Malaria Control Booster Project (Additional Financing), State Education Programme Investment Project, Community and Social Development Project, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, and Value Chain Development Project.
The government said the loans were originally valued at $123.77 million, while $92.35 million remained outstanding as of June 30, 2026, equivalent to N127.37 billion.
The statement said Obi’s administration had contracted the loans for projects covering malaria control, education, healthcare, community development, erosion control and agricultural value-chain development.
The state government said it was not opposed to borrowing where such funds were deployed to bankable projects and human capital development, adding that the current administration had continued to service the debts.
“We are not complaining. It is good for Anambra once we can show the impacts,” the statement quoted the government as saying.
The government also claimed that Obi spent about $4.05 billion during his eight years in office, which it said would amount to about N5.4 trillion when converted at the current official exchange rate.
It, however, acknowledged that governments could not be expected to complete all development projects within their tenure.
The government alleged that despite the expenditure, Obi left the state with challenges in areas including public water supply, education, healthcare, insecurity and infrastructure.
It claimed that 44 per cent of communities in the state, amounting to 78 out of 179 communities, did not have public primary schools, while only about 27 per cent of residents patronised public health institutions.
The state government also accused the former governor of leaving behind unpaid salary, pension and gratuity liabilities.
According to the statement, the current administration had cleared about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears owed to retired state and local government employees and teachers.
It, however, said some legacy liabilities dating back to previous administrations remained outstanding.
The government specifically mentioned salary arrears owed to workers of the defunct Water Corporation, saying the current administration had negotiated a settlement and paid the first two instalments of an agreed three-instalment arrangement.
It also alleged that 16 months of salary arrears owed to primary school teachers under the local government system had been verified and certified during Obi’s administration, but that only five months were eventually paid.
The state government said it had constituted a committee headed by the Head of Service to conduct a fresh verification of the outstanding liabilities.
The most contentious issue raised in the statement was Obi’s claim concerning an alleged N2.13 billion balance in a First Bank account at the UNIZIK branch in Awka.
The former governor had reportedly stated that he left more than N2.13 billion in the account when he left office on March 17, 2014, and challenged the state government to prove otherwise.
But Mefor said the government had obtained a certified statement of the account and discovered that it was an internally generated revenue (IGR) consolidated revenue account, rather than an ecological fund account.
He further claimed that the account records showed no inflow or balance corresponding to N2.13 billion from the time the account was opened in 2011 to date.
The commissioner therefore challenged Obi to explain where the money was kept, arguing that the account he cited did not support the claim.
The government also dismissed the N75 billion savings or investment reportedly attributed to the former administration as “phantom”, noting that the claim had been disputed by the previous administration.
Mefor said the state government was responding to the former governor in the interest of transparency and accountability, insisting that it remained focused on delivering development to the people of Anambra.