The Anambra State Government says it is still servicing loans obtained by previous administrations, including those of former governors Peter Obi and Willie Obiano.
The Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, said deductions were being made from the state’s monthly federal allocation to repay the inherited obligations.
Okafor disclosed this during an appearance on the Voice of Ndi Anambra Podcast, in a video shared on the Anambra State New Media Facebook page on Monday.
He said the deductions were reflected in the state’s monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee statements, adding that the liabilities had continued to affect the state’s revenue.
“Every month during our FAAC meetings, when you see the schedule of FAAC, you will notice there are substantial, significant deductions from our own FAAC because of loans previously borrowed by previous administrations,” he said.
“These loans were borrowed during the time of Peter Obi and Willie Obiano and other past governors.”
Obi governed Anambra from 2006 to 2014 before handing over to Obiano, who remained in office until 2022. Governor Chukwuma Soludo succeeded Obiano in March 2022.
Okafor, however, said the Soludo administration had not obtained any commercial bank loan since taking office, claiming that its priority had been to reduce the debt inherited from previous governments.
“It is on record that this Soludo government has not borrowed a kobo from any commercial bank since the inception of this administration. Our domestic debt as of today is near zero balance,” he said.
According to the commissioner, the state had reduced its overall debt by more than 83 per cent under Soludo while clearing several domestic obligations, including unpaid contracts, gratuities and pensions.
He said some outstanding liabilities were external facilities secured from institutions such as the World Bank, with repayments still deducted from the state’s federal allocation.
Okafor also disclosed that the government had recently repaid a facility obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme.
He said the repayment of inherited debts had created additional fiscal space for the state.
“In a nutshell, we have been able to create more fiscal space for Anambra State by paying off the backlog of numerous debts inherited from previous governments, starting from the time of Peter Obi,” he said.
The commissioner’s remarks have again brought attention to the long-running disagreement over Anambra’s financial position when Obi left office in 2014.
The succeeding Obiano administration had put inherited liabilities at about N185bn, a figure rejected by Obi’s camp, which maintained that the former governor left the state with substantial funds and investments and did not leave it heavily indebted.
Available official debt records, however, show that Anambra had outstanding formal obligations around the end of Obi’s tenure. The Debt Management Office reported external debt of about $30.3m and domestic debt of about N3bn as of December 2013.
There has also been controversy over Obi’s claim that he left $150m in the state’s coffers, with fact-checkers noting that publicly available records do not conclusively establish the exact figure.
The issue resurfaced after Soludo assumed office in 2022. The governor said the audited accounts showed that Anambra had more than N100bn in debt as of December 2021, while cash in the state’s accounts stood at between N300m and N400m.
The renewed financial dispute comes as Obi and Soludo remain influential political figures ahead of the 2027 elections.
Obi, a former Anambra governor, is now the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, while Soludo is seeking to strengthen his political influence in the state.
The two politicians have also clashed over Obi’s pledge to serve only one term if elected president.
In August 2025, Soludo criticised politicians who make one-term promises, arguing that the Constitution permits elected presidents and governors to serve two terms.
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