“Your Excellency, You Owed Salaries, Pensions And Gratuities” — Anambra Govt Fires Back At Peter Obi

The Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, made the position known in a statement titled, “Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies.”

Mefor said eight external loans linked to projects implemented during or inherited by Obi’s administration remained outstanding, with a combined balance of $92.35 million, which the state government valued at ₦127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026.

According to him, the loans were obtained for projects covering malaria control, erosion management, healthcare, education, community development and agricultural value-chain development.

He cited, among others, additional financing of $48.33 million for the Malaria Control Booster Project, of which $37.34 million remained outstanding. He also said $34.86 million was outstanding from a $37.89 million loan obtained for the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project.

The commissioner said the current administration was servicing the outstanding obligations, adding that borrowing itself was not necessarily problematic when used for viable projects and human-capital development.

“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,” Mefor said.

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

The state government also disputed Obi’s claim that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities.

Mefor said the Soludo administration inherited and settled about ₦22 billion in gratuity arrears owed to retired state and local government workers and teachers.

He further alleged that salary arrears involving workers of the former Anambra State Water Corporation remained unresolved until the current administration began addressing them.

According to the commissioner, the government negotiated a settlement and had already paid the first two instalments of an agreed three-instalment arrangement.

Mefor also alleged that some primary school teachers were owed salary, pension and gratuity arrears dating back to the administration of former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju.

He said Obi’s administration had verified 16 months of salary arrears and agreed to settle them in instalments, but only five months were paid.

“This administration has set up a committee headed by the Head of Service to finalise a new verification for us to pay,” Mefor said.

“So, Your Excellency, you owed salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can testify.”

The commissioner added that public claims concerning the state’s financial records should be supported by verifiable evidence.

A major point of disagreement between the two sides is the alleged ₦2.13 billion ecological fund which Obi said he left untouched for his successor.

Obi had explained that the money was released shortly before the end of his tenure for erosion control work in Oko/Umuchiana. He said he deliberately left the funds untouched because they were earmarked for a specific project and should therefore be preserved for the incoming administration.

He also identified a First Bank account which he said contained more than ₦2.13 billion when he left office, maintaining that the amount was separate from more than ₦75 billion in savings he said his administration left behind.

However, the Anambra State Government disputed the account of the funds.

Mefor said the account identified by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.

“Second, 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.

He subsequently challenged Obi to clarify where the alleged ecological funds were kept if they were not held in the account identified by the former governor.

The commissioner also questioned Obi’s claim that his administration left more than ₦75 billion in savings, describing the figure as what he called “nebulous creative accounting.”

The claims by Obi and the Anambra State Government remain disputed accounts of the state’s financial position during the period in question, with the underlying banking records, loan documents and official financial statements required to independently establish the complete picture.