Obi disputes claim that he left Anambra with $123.77m in loans

Former Anambra State governor Peter Obi has rejected the description of $123.77 million in external financing as loans he left behind for the state. He said he neither approached a financial institution to borrow funds nor issued a bond for Anambra during his tenure. The state government said eight external facilities connected to projects undertaken during Obi’s administration had a combined contracted value of $123.77 million.

It put the amount outstanding at $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026, citing Debt Management Office figures. Obi argued that the figures combined separate categories: amounts approved for multiyear programmes, sums actually drawn during his tenure and balances outstanding when he handed over on March 17, 2014. He said the facilities were mainly World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development programmes negotiated by the Federal Government, with states participating through subsidiary arrangements.

He maintained that these were not conventional commercial loans personally secured by him, while acknowledging that Anambra had repayment responsibilities under the programmes. Obi cited DMO figures that he said placed the state’s external debt at about $18 million when he took office in 2006 and approximately $30 million when he left in 2014. Obi also said his administration left no unpaid salaries, pensions or verified contractor debts.

He claimed it left more than $150 million as the dollar component of state investments. He denied a dispute with successor Chukwuma Soludo and urged politicians to focus on Nigeria’s wider challenges.