Anambra State Government says deductions are still being made from the state’s monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenue to service loans it says were obtained during the administration of former Governor Peter Obi.
The Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, disclosed this on Friday while speaking on Arise News’s The Morning Show amid the ongoing dispute over the financial records of Obi’s tenure.
Mefor said the fact that some of the loans were guaranteed by the Federal Government did not make them grants or exempt the state from repayment.
“A loan is a loan, and whether it is sovereign or not, even an interest-free loan is still a loan,” he said.
According to the commissioner, eight external loan facilities were obtained during Obi’s tenure with Federal Government guarantees. He said the loans were used to finance various development programmes and that states had the option of participating in such lending arrangements.
Mefor cited Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s decision not to participate in the World Bank-funded Nigeria CARES programme as an example of a state choosing whether to take a loan facility.
He put the external facilities attributed to Obi’s administration at $123 million and argued that the outstanding obligations should be considered when assessing the former governor’s financial record.
“The point I’m trying to make is simple: he took loans, and he said he didn’t,” Mefor said.
The commissioner also disputed Obi’s claim that he left Anambra without financial liabilities when he handed over power in 2014.
The state government has previously said records from the Debt Management Office show eight external loans contracted during Obi’s tenure, with the outstanding balance estimated at about N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026.
Obi has denied leaving the state with outstanding debts, salaries, pensions, gratuities or contractor obligations. He has challenged the Anambra government to provide evidence to contradict his position, saying he would stop campaigning for the 2027 presidential election if it could establish that he left the state indebted.
The latest exchange adds to the continuing dispute between Obi and the Soludo administration over Anambra’s financial position at the end of Obi’s tenure.