What records show about Anambra debt under Peter Obi, amid govt’s $123.7m claim - Premium Times Nigeria

Records by the Debt Management Office (DMO) show that Anambra State’s external debt stock increased substantially during Peter Obi’s tenure as governor, although the figures are far lower than the $123.77 million in external loan facilities the current state government says were contracted during his administration.

The DMO data show that Anambra’s external debt stood at $16.87 million in December 2006, the year Mr Obi returned to office after a court victory over his impeachment by the Anambra State House of Assembly. 

By December 2013, the last DMO external debt report before Mr Obi left office on 17 March 2014, the state’s external debt stock had risen to $30.32 million. That is an increase of about 80 per cent over the period.

The figures are relevant to the ongoing dispute between Mr Obi, the 2027 presidential candidateof the Nigeria Democratic Congress, and the Anambra State Government headed by Charles Soludo over the financial liabilities inherited by successive administrations.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Obi has repeatedly maintained that he left office without outstanding debts, including salaries, pensions, gratuities and liabilities to contractors whose work had been completed and certified.

The Anambra State Government, however, says Mr Obi’s administration left eight external loan facilities which subsequent governments have continued to service.

According to historical DMO debt-stock data analysed by PREMIUM TIMES, Anambra’s external debt was $16,869,393 in December 2006.

The figure fell to $15,192,742 in December 2007 before rising to $18,892,185 in December 2008. It stood at $17,313,839 in December 2009.

From 2010, the DMO began publishing the external debt position at six-month intervals.

The state recorded $17,903,645 in June 2010 and $21,304,916 by December of that year.

The debt stock rose further to $23,722,253 in June 2011 and $24,446,469 by December 2011.

It increased to $25,370,842 in June 2012 and $26,708,648 in December.

By June 2013, Anambra’s external debt had risen to $27,312,541, before reaching $30,323,574 at the end of December 2013.

The December 2013 figure ranked Anambra 31st among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in external debt, making it the sixth-lowest debtor in the country at the time on external debt.

The next DMO report for June 2014, published after Mr Obi left office, put Anambra’s external debt at $41,459,335.

The increase between the December 2013 figure and the June 2014 figure occurred after Mr Obi’s administration had ended and may not be attributed solely to his administration.

The DMO’s December 2013 figure is independently reflected in the agency’s published debt-stock records.

However, there is no available DMO record as of March 2014 when Mr Obi left office as governor of the South-eastern state.

This makes it impossible to determine the exact amount of Anambra’s external debt as of 17 March 2014, the last day of Mr Obi’s administration when he handed over to Willie Obiano.

The DMO began publishing the domestic debt stock of states in the form now being cited from December 2011.

Anambra’s domestic debt stood at N6.4 billion in December 2011 and rose to N14.3 billion in December 2012.

But the DMO’s revised 2013 figure put the state’s domestic debt at N3.026 billion as of December that year.

The 2013 figure placed Anambra 33rd among the 36 states and the FCT, meaning only Katsina, Kebbi, Yobe and Jigawa had lower domestic debt stocks.

Thus, while Anambra’s external debt stock increased during the period, its reported domestic debt stock was substantially lower by the end of 2013 than it had been a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Mr Obi, during his interview on Arise News’ Prime Time on Thursday night, corroborated the DMO’s figures.

The politician’s figures differed slightly, particularly regarding the external debt he inherited, although his figures covered periods different from those used by the DMO in its records.

“So at the time I assumed the office of the state (as governor), our foreign debts recorded was about $18 million.

“At the time I left office in March 2014, our foreign debt position was about $30 million,” he said.

On the foreign debt left behind at the end of his tenure, Mr Obi’s use of the phrase “about $30 million” shows he agrees that it is within that region.

The DMO’s records did not show the exact external debts of Anambra State as of March 2014 when Mr Obi left office as governor.

Thus, the former governor’s claims cannot be refuted, although his figures significantly tallies with DMO’s $30.32 million record.

Similarly, Mr Obi’s claims of inheriting “about $18 million” from the previous administration before him cannot be verified.

This is because the DMO’s records of external debt of Anambra State as of 17 March 2006 when he took over as governor was unavailable.

The December 2013 DMO record on the state’s external debts was released about three months before the end of Mr Obi’s administration as governor.

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES analysed a copy of handover letter which Mr Obi gave to Mr Obiano, who exited office as governor in 2022 after two terms and handed over to Mr Soludo.

The handover letter had been publicly available on social media, since Mr Obi exited office.

The letter, titled “2014 Anambra State Handover Report,” was dated 17 March 2014, the last day of Mr Obi’s administration as governor of Anambra.

“As Friday 14 March, 2014 was the final working day of my Administration, I also forward herewith, the summary of the full financial statement of Anambra State (copies of which are herein attached) as at close of business on that day,” Mr Obi wrote in the letter.

According to the letter, N27 billion was the state’s funds committed in local investment while N25.6 billion was for foreign currency investment which was about $156 million.

Also, N28.27 billion was the balance for the certified state/ministries, departments and agencies of the government while N10 billion was funds refunded to the state by the federal government.

The figures, according to the letter, brought the total assets and balances left in the state’s coffers at the time to N91.67 billion.

However, Mr Obi indicated in the letter that he had earmarked N5 billion out of the N91.67 billion for payment of estimated liabilities.

He listed the estimated liabilities to include March 2014 salaries, pensions and gratuities as well as approved certificates of already executed projects.

The deduction of the N5 billion for the liabilities brought the total assets and balances left in the state’s coffers at the time to N86.67 billion.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that Mr Obiano’s administration acknowledgment of the receipt of the handover letter does not automatically represent a confirmation of availability of funds, especially since Mr Obiano’s administration did not publicly confirm the authenticity of the finances in the government’s treasury at the time.

This newspaper also understands that the state’s financial records at the time as presented by Mr Obi’s administration were not jointly verified by the outgoing and incoming administrations.

But while speaking as a guest on a Channels TV programme shortly before the 2017 governorship poll, Mr Obiano appeared to confirm some aspects of the details in the handover letter.

“My predecessor (Mr Obi) left N9 billion in cash and N25.6 billion in script issues – these are sovereign wealth funds and shares in other banks,” he had responded when the programme anchor, Seun Okinbaloye, asked him for detail of what he met on ground.

The then-governor added: “If you put N9 billion to that (N25.6 billion), you get N35.5 billion, but he issued cheques worth over N15 billion before he left.”

By Mr Obiano’s own admission, Mr Obi left behind a total of over N50.5 billion in the state’s treasury.

The Anambra Government has said the DMO figures do not fully capture the loan obligations incurred during Mr Obi’s administration.

It identified eight external loan facilities contracted between 2007 and 2013, with a combined original value of $123.77 million.

The facilities covered programmes in areas including malaria control, agriculture, healthcare, education, community development, and erosion control and value-chain development.

The government said $92.35 million remained outstanding as of 30 June 2026.

PREMIUM TIMES asked the Anambra State Government to explain the discrepancy between its $123.77 million in loan facilities and the DMO’s reported $30.32 million external debt as of December 2013.

The newspaper also asked how much of the facilities had actually been drawn down and recognised as Anambra’s debt by 17 March 2014, and the outstanding balance on each facility at handover.

Responding, the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, said Mr Obi had signed the eight World Bank facilities, thereby committing the state to them.

“He signed up the eight World Bank loans thereby committing Anambra to those loans. The state is now being debited for loan servicing those loans,” Mr Mefor said.

He said Mr Obi “drew down part of the loans” but paid none of the amount drawn before leaving office.

Mr Mefor said the government’s objection was not to borrowing for development but to Mr Obi’s claim that he left no loan liabilities.

“Nobody is against taking of loans or the nobility of the loans Obi took. The concern of the government is Mr Obi saying he didn’t pass down loan liabilities,” he said.

The commissioner also claimed that DMO records showed Mr Obi left more than N2 billion in domestic loan liabilities and alleged that the loans and other debts were not disclosed in his handover notes.

He said the government wanted the records clarified so that future administrations would not be accused of servicing loans that, according to Mr Obi’s account, did not exist.

Mr Mefor directed PREMIUM TIMES to the Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, for further clarification.

When contacted, Mr Okafor said declined to speak on the matter.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Obi rejected the government’s claim that he left Anambra with the loan liabilities it identified.

He has maintained that he did not borrow money or issue bonds on behalf of the state during his tenure and has challenged the government to substantiate its claims.

The former governor has also questioned the $123.77 million figure, pointing to DMO records which put Anambra’s total external debt at $30.32 million at the end of 2013.

He has argued that the development-financing arrangements cited by the government involved the federal government and international development institutions, and should not simply be characterised as money he personally borrowed and left unpaid.

The DMO records showed that Anambra had $30.32 million in external debt at the end of 2013 and N3.03 billion in domestic debt under the revised figures for the same period.

The government’s account attributes eight external loan facilities with an original combined value of $123.77 million, to Mr Obi’s administration.

But the government’s own response to PREMIUM TIMES explains that only part of those facilities had been drawn down during Mr Obi’s tenure.

This leaves the key outstanding question: what was actually the amount disbursed and owed by Anambra on each facility as of 17 March 2014, when Mr Obi handed over power?

The response would require the relevant loan agreements, disbursement records and handover-date balances to reconcile the government’s claim with the DMO’s debt figures.

Mr Obi has denied taking any loans while in office, explaining that the eight facilities being referred to by the government were “concessionary development-support funds secured by the federal government for states selected for it to address specific needs.”

The former governor then argued that even if the $123.7 million debts was true, his over $150 million savings or the $10 million income the savings had been generating annually was enough to cover the debts.

Mr Obi’s claims of saving over $150 million in the state’s coffers has not been refuted by successive administrations.

Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, in his 2020 article published on ThisDay Newspaper, indicated that Mr Obi saved $155 million in the state’s treasury.

Mr Otti, who was the chief executive officer of the now defunct Diamond Bank at the time, during an interview on Arise News Friday morning, detailed how he prevailed on Mr Obi to convert the funds to dollars instead due to frequent naira depreciation.

As admitted by Mr Otti in his article and others, the funds have a long maturity period of five years and above.

However, Mr Obi’s claim of leaving Anambra State completely “debt-free” is inconsistent with the DMO’s records and even his own admission of leaving external debts of “about $30 million.”