Anambra Government Releases Records Of ‘Unpaid Debts’ By Peter Obi During Tenure As Governor [PHOTOS]

The Anambra State Government has made public what it describes as the official debt records left behind by former governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Peter Obi.

In an official statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr. Law Mefor, titled Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies, the state administration maintained that Obi left behind both external debt obligations and outstanding liabilities for pensions and gratuities.

Our attention has been drawn to a viral post by a former Governor of Anambra, HE Mr. Peter Obi, CON, on what he described as Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy, which presumably was in response to some statements in a podcast by the Anambra State Commissioner for Finance.

We understand that this is a campaign season and candidates often go to extremes to impress. If not that the said post was in his personal handle, we would not have believed that he could have made such wild, and verifiably false claims. As a government, we are focused 100% on delivering dividends of democracy to millions of Ndi Anambra. However, when a former governor of the state makes some outlandish claims about the state of public debt he left behind and especially when the present government has been spending billions of Naira servicing the same debt, a responsible government owes the public a response in the interest of transparency and accountability.

Outlining its side of the figures, the government asserted that: HE Peter Obi Spent about $4.05 billion (equivalent to N5.4 trillion at current exchange rate) in 8 years and also contracted US$ 123.77million in external debt alone which our government has so far paid billions of Naira in service payments.

Let’s be clear: hardly any government in the world has zero debt stock. The issue is not whether or not borrowing is good: no business or government can scale significantly without some debt. Yes, we converted the audited and published expenditures using the average official exchange rates during the eight years of Peter Obi and they sum to about USS$4.05 billion.

At the current official exchange rate, it would sum to about N5.4 trillon and he surely governed to the best of his ability. Of course, no government will ever finish the work of development.

The statement noted that when Obi handed over power on March 17, 2014, his administration left eight distinct foreign loan commitments for subsequent administrations.

As of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by HE Peter Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.4Billion. Here we summarise the latest report from the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Anambra’s debt status (as of June 2026), indicating the dates the loans were signed and the balance remaining.

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. It is good for Anambra once we can show the impacts.

The government further alleged that Obi departed office leaving the state devoid of operational urban or rural water systems, alongside rising insecurity, poverty, deteriorating infrastructure, and understaffed public schools and hospitals. It claimed 44 percent of Anambra communities (78 out of 179) lacked public primary schools at the time.

Only about 27% of Anambra residents patronised public health institutions because of poor quality and non-functionality, which he even admitted abandoning public health system at the recent NBA conference. We are convinced that many Ndi Anambra would not have minded if HE Peter Obi had borrowed to fix public schools and hospitals, water schemes, infrastructure, or even to reduce poverty and insecurity. Debt, especially for bankable projects and human capital development, is justifiable. So, HE Peter Obi should stop being irked as if all debt is bad.

Addressing labor obligations, the state government alleged that Obi left verified arrears of salaries, pensions, and gratuities owed to retired teachers and Water Corporation staff, describing his past declarations of clearing all inherited labor arrears as patently false.

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