The Anambra State Government has alleged that former governor Peter Obi left about $750m in liabilities on 101 road contracts covering 779 kilometres of roads.
The information was disclosed in a seven-page statement by the Anambra Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, on Saturday, following Obi’s appearance in a recent interview where he disputed the debt allegations by the state government.
In its response, the state presented a fresh dimension to the ongoing debt dispute, alleging that the handover financial statement showing credits to the state accounts did not invalidate the liabilities, debts and uncompleted projects inherited by his successors.
The government did not dispute the over $155m worth of assets, investments and other funds left behind by Obi. It, however, argued that the decision to save money to earn interest amid glaring socioeconomic challenges reflected a government bereft of any long-term transformational agenda.
The statement read partly: “The so-called Handover Note showed disingenuous accounting to balloon the asset side while deceptively hiding the liabilities.
“The asset side, deceptively presented as ‘money left for his successor’, included valuations for abandoned and uncompleted projects including Nnewi Shopping Mall, now overgrown by weeds;
“Onitsha Hotel — a carcass that will soon be demolished as it may collapse anytime; Agulu Lake Hotel that was literally at foundation stage when he left office, etc.”
Part of the financial statement contained in Obi’s handover document revealed a credit portfolio of N27.05bn in local investments between January 2007 and December 2013, with projects including Nnewi Shopping Mall, Onitsha Hotel and Agulu Lake Hotel listed among the investments.
The statement also addressed the N10bn approved for refund by the Federal Government, contained in the net balance of Obi’s handover letter.
The Anambra Government claimed that “the money was not received before he left office and no one is sure that the ‘approved refund’ ever came.”
The government added that “the same bogus net balances included balances in MDAs’ accounts — largely monies that were already expended from the consolidated revenue fund or not available for spending, etc.
“Curiously, the Handover Note never mentioned that his government had awarded and signed valid contracts for 101 roads totalling 779 kilometres and outstanding liabilities on them of N127 billion as at that date.
“As at that date and in US dollar terms, the total value of the liabilities on roads alone was about US$750 million. Compare this to the celebrated $150 million deposits in commercial banks.”
Another contention between both camps is the issue of investment interest, which the Chukwuma Soludo administration says has become Obi’s main argument for challenging the recognition of debts on the state’s balance sheet.
“Your main argument is that you saved US$150 million in banks and that if your successor, Chief Obiano, had left the ‘investment’, it would have earned enough ‘interest’ to service the loans.
“Therefore, in your invented new accounting theory, the loan should not be recognised in the balance sheet as a liability because the investment side was more than enough to repay it.
“If you write this in Accountancy 101 exams, you will certainly score an ‘F’ grade — and even less than a third-class grade.”
“But let’s interrogate your jaundiced logic. Yes, we don’t dispute that you saved $150 million, and if it had not been spent by your immediate successor, it would have been earning interest. But did it, and does it make any sense at all?
“The gloating over ‘savings’ and interest income in the midst of acute misery, except for temporary, inter-temporal smoothing of revenue volatility, may garner transient emotional applause but is certainly an unfortunate economic argument,” the statement read.
The government mocked Obi’s claim of being the only governor in Nigeria to have saved resources amid increased poverty, insecurity and unpaid salaries and pensions, while commending his successor “for spending it to save millions of people and giving Anambra its first airport.”
On unpaid salaries and pensions, the Anambra Government maintained that Obi owed over 700 staff of the State Water Corporation, which it said was confirmed by an Arbitration Panel in 2009 and the National Industrial Court judgment of 2019.
“After the court judgment, the State Government accounts were going to be garnished, but this current administration opted for an out-of-court settlement on 26th February, 2024, for a total sum of N1,563,143,020.13. So far, our State Government has paid the sum of N1,199,762,000 and the last tranche will be paid.
“We understand that you like to stage drama with everything, but this is not fiction. We are talking about hundreds of human beings with families. We understand that many of them have died due to frustration and penury. We are talking about over N1 billion already paid — arrears owed and left by your government unpaid.”
