Obi: Anambra debt figure doesn’t reflect what I left behind

Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has challenged the current interpretation of the N127.4 billion in outstanding external loans attributed to his administration. Obi contends that the figure does not accurately represent the financial obligations he left behind, as it fails to differentiate between approved development programmes, the amounts actually drawn, and the outstanding balances at various periods.

He appeared on Arise TV to make these clarifications, insisting that he neither sought nor issued any loans during his eight-year tenure in office.

Obi's comments come in response to claims made by the Anambra Government that eight external financing facilities, valued at $123.77 million, had an outstanding balance of $92.35 million, or approximately N127.4 billion, as of June 30, 2026. The state government maintains that these facilities, linked to various projects undertaken during Obi's time in office, continue to be serviced from public funds.

However, Obi disputes the characterization of the entire contracted value as debt he left behind, arguing that the facilities were primarily development programmes supported by the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and facilitated through arrangements involving the Federal Government and participating states.

He provided the example of the State Education Programme Investment Project, where Anambra was selected along with Ekiti and Bauchi for concessionary multilateral support due to their strong education performance. Obi emphasized that this arrangement differed significantly from obtaining a conventional commercial loan directly from a bank.

He pointed out that the drawdown on some of these facilities occurred after he had left office in March 2014, and thus, the timing of each drawdown should be determined before assigning responsibility for the resulting obligations.

Furthermore, Obi questioned the treatment of approved but undrawn facilities as money already borrowed and spent by a government. He used a hypothetical scenario of a N10 billion facility where only N500 million was drawn to illustrate his point, arguing that such a situation should not be equated with owing the entire N10 billion.

He also referred to historical records from the Debt Management Office (DMO), suggesting that these figures need reconciliation to accurately trace the current balance back to his administration. According to Obi, Anambra's external debt stood at about $18 million when he took office in March 2006 and increased to about $30 million by the time he left office in March 2014.

He emphasized that the $123.77 million figure now attributed to his tenure cannot be presented as debt he left behind, especially considering that the state's cited outstanding balance was calculated more than 12 years after he had left office.