The Anambra State Government has released details of loans and other financial obligations it said were incurred during the administration of former Governor Peter Obi, who served from 2006 to 2014.
The state government made the disclosure on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, in response to recent comments by Obi concerning the state’s debt record.
The statement said Obi left office with outstanding domestic and external debts, as well as unpaid pensions and gratuities owed to some workers and retirees.
According to the state government, Obi’s administration contracted about $123.77 million in external loans during his tenure. It said eight separate external loans linked to his administration were still being repaid by the state after he left office on March 17, 2014.
The government said records from the Debt Management Office, DMO, showed that the outstanding balance of the loans stood at about N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, based on the official exchange rate.
It explained that the loans were obtained for projects and programmes covering areas such as malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare. The government said it had continued to make monthly payments towards servicing the debts.
The state government also put the total spending during Obi’s eight years in office at about $4.05 billion, saying the figure was calculated from audited and published expenditures using the average official exchange rates applicable during the period.
It maintained that having debt was not in itself a problem, arguing that governments could borrow to finance projects and develop infrastructure when the funds were properly used.
However, the government also accused the former administration of leaving several challenges behind when Obi left office. It listed poor access to public water, insecurity, poverty, weak public schools and hospitals, as well as inadequate infrastructure among the issues it said remained in the state.
The statement further claimed that 78 out of 179 communities in Anambra did not have public primary schools at the time, while many residents relied less on public healthcare facilities because of concerns about their condition.
The state government said it would have no objection to borrowing when the funds were used for productive projects, human capital development and essential services that benefit residents.
It also disputed Obi’s claim that his administration had cleared inherited salary, pension and gratuity arrears. The government said there were verified outstanding payments involving retired teachers and former Water Corporation workers when he left office.
However, it said it would not enter into the separate argument over which outstanding obligations were inherited from previous administrations and which ones were settled during Obi’s tenure.
The Anambra government said its decision to release the records was aimed at providing the public with its account of the state’s debt position and responding to claims made by the former governor.