The Anambra State Government has said monthly deductions from its Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenue are being used to service loan obligations it attributed to the administration of former Governor Peter Obi.

The Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, made the claim during an appearance on Arise Television on Friday, while responding to Obi’s recent statements concerning the financial position he left behind when he handed over power in 2014.

Mefor said the former administration obtained eight external loan facilities valued at about $123 million. According to him, some of the facilities received Federal Government guarantees, but such guarantees did not convert the loans into grants or remove the state’s repayment obligations.

The commissioner maintained that borrowed funds remain liabilities regardless of whether they are sovereign-backed or interest-free.

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“First and foremost, a loan is a loan,” Mefor said, arguing that the state continues to meet repayment obligations connected to facilities obtained under the previous administration.

Anambra Government Defends Its Loan Repayment Claims

Mefor said the loans were obtained through different development programmes and argued that the central issue was not whether borrowing was necessarily wrong, but whether claims that the former administration did not take loans were accurate.

He also pointed to the World Bank-supported Nigeria CARES programme as an example of a lending facility that states could choose to participate in or reject.

According to Mefor, Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration decided not to participate in the Nigeria CARES loan, which he cited as evidence that state governments had choices regarding some financing programmes.

“So Obi had the opportunity to either take or not to take. So if you take, you take the responsibility,” he said.

The commissioner placed the total value of the external facilities he attributed to Obi’s administration at $123 million. He argued that outstanding obligations from those facilities should be considered when assessing the former governor’s financial record.

Mefor also rejected Obi’s reported assertion that he left no financial liabilities for the administration that succeeded him.

According to the commissioner, some loan-related obligations originating from the period remained outstanding after Obi left office in 2014.

“And he said also that he did not pass down any financial liabilities that accrued from loans that he took. That is also not correct,” Mefor said.

The comments add another layer to an ongoing public disagreement over the financial position of Anambra State at the end of Obi’s tenure.

Obi has maintained that he left the state without outstanding debts and has also disputed claims that his administration handed over unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or obligations to contractors.

The latest response from the Anambra Government therefore centres on the distinction between the financial obligations the former governor says he left behind and loan facilities that the current administration says remain subject to repayment.

Mefor’s comments specifically attributed eight external facilities worth approximately $123 million to the Obi administration. He also maintained that Federal Government guarantees attached to some of the facilities did not eliminate Anambra’s repayment responsibilities.

The disagreement is likely to keep attention focused on the financial records of previous administrations in Anambra and the extent to which inherited obligations continue to affect the state’s revenue.

For now, the competing positions remain clear: Obi has disputed leaving outstanding financial obligations, while the Anambra Government, through Mefor, says loan deductions from FAAC revenue continue and that some of those obligations originated during the former governor’s tenure.