The Anambra State government has stated that it continues to service debt obligations incurred during the administration of former governor Peter Obi. This assertion directly challenges the long-standing position held by the former governor regarding the financial health of the state at the time of his exit from office in 2021.
Mr Obi has consistently maintained that he handed over a total of $150 million in foreign currency reserves to his successor. According to his position, these funds—comprising $50 million each held in Access Bank, the defunct Diamond Bank, and Fidelity Bank—were maintained with an interest rate of at least 6.5 per cent.
The Anambra government’s latest claim suggests a significant discrepancy between these reported reserves and the actual fiscal liabilities facing the state. While the former governor points to a substantial surplus, the current administration maintains that the state is still actively meeting repayment schedules for loans contracted under the previous leadership.
Discrepancies in fiscal handover
The tension between the reported $150 million in liquid assets and the ongoing debt servicing creates fundamental questions regarding the state’s actual treasury position during the transition. If the state is indeed servicing large-scale loans, it implies that the dollar reserves mentioned by Mr Obi may have been insufficient to cover all outstanding credit facilities or were already earmarked for specific obligations.
This dispute has become a recurring theme in the political discourse of Anambra State, often used to frame the competence of successive administrations. For supporters of the former governor, the $150 million reserve is cited as evidence of rigorous fiscal discipline and successful resource management. Conversely, the current administration uses the necessity of debt servicing to explain the budgetary constraints currently affecting the state’s ability to fund new projects.
The economic implications of these conflicting accounts are significant for the state’s developmental trajectory. Continuous debt servicing reduces the available fiscal space for the current government to invest in critical sectors such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education. As the state navigates its annual budgetary cycles, the allocation of funds toward interest payments rather than direct development remains a point of contention for taxpayers and economic observers.
At present, the Anambra State government has not provided a detailed breakdown of the specific loans being serviced or the exact outstanding balances that necessitate these ongoing repayments.
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