By Seyi Odewale
The Anambra State Government and former Governor Peter Obi have clashed over the state’s financial obligations, with the government claiming that eight external loans inherited from previous administrations still had an outstanding balance of ₦127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026.
The dispute has also extended to an alleged ₦2.13 billion ecological fund which Obi said he left untouched for his successor to address the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
The government, however, said account records obtained from First Bank did not support Obi’s description of the funds or the account where he claimed the money was kept.
The latest exchange followed claims by the Anambra State Government that the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo was still servicing debts contracted by previous governments, including those of Obi and former Governor Willie Obiano.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, said eight external loans contracted between 2007 and 2013 remained outstanding.
According to Mefor, the loans had an original value of about $123.77 million, with $92.35 million still outstanding, equivalent to ₦127.37 billion at the official exchange rate as of June 30, 2026.
The government said the facilities financed projects in education, healthcare, erosion control, malaria intervention, community development and agricultural value chains.
Mefor said the Soludo administration had continued to service the inherited obligations, despite not contracting the loans.
“Evidently, HE Peter Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc. So far, this government pays hundreds of millions of Naira every month to service these debts and we are not complaining,” he said.
The Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, said the Soludo administration had not obtained any commercial bank loan since taking office but had continued to meet repayment obligations inherited from earlier administrations.
He said deductions were being made from the state’s Federation Account Allocation Committee funds to service the inherited facilities.
Okafor also said the administration had reduced the state’s debt burden by more than 83 per cent.
The government maintained that the issue was not simply whether the loans were used for projects, but the continuing financial obligations they imposed on the state.
It also disputed Obi’s assertion that he left office without outstanding salary, pension, gratuity or certified contractor liabilities.
Mefor said the Soludo administration had cleared about ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears owed to retired state and local government workers and teachers.
He further alleged that salary arrears involving workers of the defunct Anambra State Water Corporation persisted and were subsequently addressed by the present administration.
On primary school teachers, Mefor claimed that Obi’s administration had verified 16 months of salary arrears but paid only five months.
*Government challenges ₦2.13bn ecological fund claim
A major point of disagreement between the two sides is the alleged ecological fund which Obi said was released shortly before the end of his tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
The former governor said he deliberately resisted pressure to spend the money before leaving office, insisting that it should remain available to the incoming administration because it was tied to a specific project.
“The ₦2 billion ecological fund in question was released barely three months before the end of my tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis,” he said.
“Despite pressure to spend the money, I refused, insisting that it should be left for my successor because government is a continuum and the funds were tied to a specific project.”
Obi said the money was left untouched in a First Bank account and that the balance was more than the amount originally released.
“The money was therefore left 100 per cent intact in First Bank, in Account No. 2018779464, with a balance of over ₦2.13 billion,” he said.
Mefor, however, said the state government had obtained a certified statement covering the account from its inception and that the records contradicted Obi’s description.
“We have obtained a certified printout of the account from inception to date. The account is an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Consolidated Revenue Account, and not an ecological fund account,” Mefor said.
He further claimed that the account had never recorded ₦2.13 billion either as an inflow or balance since it was opened in 2011.
“From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account,” he said.
The commissioner consequently challenged the former governor to explain where the money he claimed to have left for the erosion project was kept.
*Produce evidence — Obi
Obi responded in a statement posted on his official X account on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, titled “Debunking the Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy.”
He described the allegations against his administration as “completely false,” insisting that his government had systematically settled historical financial obligations before handing over power in March 2014.
“We systematically liquidated historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years, amounting to over ₦35 billion.”
Obi said his administration also left the state without unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or obligations to contractors whose projects had been duly executed and certified.
“At the point of handover, the state owed nothing in salaries, gratuities, or pensions, nor did we owe anything to any contractor for projects duly executed and certified,” he added.
On the ecological fund, Obi said the money was separate from the savings he claimed his administration accumulated before leaving office.
“It is important to stress that funds tied to specific projects or set aside for particular purposes were not even included in the over ₦75 billion in savings we left behind,” Obi said.
He also rejected any suggestion that the ecological fund formed part of the savings figure, maintaining that it was specifically reserved for the erosion intervention.
Obi subsequently challenged the Anambra State Government and anyone disputing his account to produce evidence showing otherwise.
“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” he said.
The government, however, said it was prepared to stand by its records and maintained that public borrowing was not inherently problematic where funds were properly applied to viable projects and human-capital development.
