The Anambra State Government has released a document showing approval for the payment of N363.381 million in workers’ arrears, as its dispute with former Governor Peter Obi over the state’s financial obligations continues to intensify.
The document, dated May 24, 2025, relates to the second tranche of payments to workers, pensioners and next of kin of the defunct Anambra State Water Corporation and the Anambra State Environmental Protection Agency.
It was signed by the then Head of Service, Dame Theodora Okwy Igwegbe, and addressed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
The disclosure was made on Friday by the Anambra State New Media Office amid an ongoing public disagreement over whether Obi left unpaid workers’ entitlements when he left office in March 2014.
According to the document, the N363.381 million payment was part of an out-of-court settlement reached between the Anambra State Government and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees.
The settlement was reportedly reached on February 6, 2024, and covered outstanding entitlements involving workers, pensioners and next of kin connected with the defunct Water Corporation and ANSEPA.
The document requested approval for the release of the funds, with the payment to be processed through the state government’s payroll system and a dedicated account.
The state government presented the document as evidence supporting its claim that outstanding workers’ entitlements existed after Obi left office.
The New Media Office described the document as another piece of evidence in its continuing criticism of the former governor. However, the existence of an arrears payment does not, by itself, establish which administration incurred the liabilities or when the obligations became due.
The latest disclosure follows a series of exchanges between the Soludo administration and Obi over the financial position of Anambra at the end of his tenure.
The state government has previously alleged that Obi left outstanding salary, pension and gratuity liabilities, including arrears involving former workers of the Water Corporation. It said the administration had been paying inherited obligations in instalments.
Earlier, the government released another document showing approval for N473 million as the first tranche of salary arrears involving former workers and pensioners of the defunct Water Corporation and ANSEPA. That payment was also linked to the February 2024 out-of-court settlement.
The latest document therefore represents the second tranche cited by the state government in its account of payments made toward the disputed obligations.
Obi, however, has consistently rejected the allegation that he left Anambra owing salaries, pensions or gratuities.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Thursday, the former governor said that when he left office, the state did not owe salaries, gratuities or pensions that were due for payment by his administration.
He also said his administration had cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears inherited from previous administrations.
“I left office without owing salaries, gratuities, pensions or contractors whose jobs were executed, certified and verified,” Obi said, according to the report.
The former governor has also disputed claims that he borrowed money or issued bonds on behalf of Anambra during his eight years in office.
The state government, on the other hand, has maintained that eight external loans contracted during Obi’s tenure remained outstanding. It put the balance of those loans at about N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, calculated at the official exchange rate, and said the current administration continues to service them.
Obi has rejected that characterisation of his administration’s borrowing record, arguing that some of the facilities associated with his tenure were concessionary multilateral arrangements and that the existence of an undrawn facility should not automatically be treated as money borrowed and spent by his administration.
The disagreement has gained additional political significance because Obi is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress ahead of the 2027 election.
The Anambra Government had earlier challenged him to withdraw from the presidential race if its allegations that he left debts and workers’ arrears were established. Obi responded that he would stop campaigning if evidence showed that he left the state with outstanding debts or unpaid certified obligations.
The release of the N363.381 million document is therefore likely to add another dimension to the continuing debate over Anambra’s finances at the end of Obi’s administration.
While the document establishes that the state approved a payment for the identified group of former workers, the broader question of when the arrears arose, which administration was responsible for them and how they should be classified remains disputed between the parties.
The controversy is expected to remain part of the political debate as the 2027 presidential election approaches, with both sides continuing to present different accounts of the state’s financial position in 2014.
