DID OBI MEAN TO SAY N75 MILLION?

If Mr Peter Obi could mobilise funds to the value of N75 b towards the tail end of his tenure, for the use of his successor, it naturally followed that the period of his active service would have witnessed greater liquidity. If this were to be the case, how come that the administration left Awka the state capital barren, impoverished and in tatters? Does it sound plausible that a regime that took pride in paying workers in the public sector – political appointees and career staff alike - minimal wages would elect to handover significant monetary assets? If the administration was financially resourceful as put out, it is legitimate to wonder as former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Chukwuma Soludo observed, that Obi was unable to leave any landmark project – except perhaps for Amaku Teaching Hospital - in all of his eight- year reign.

Doubts over the N75 billion legacy have been sharpened with the revelations by the Secretary to Anambra State Government, Solo Chukwulobelu at a press conference on November 14, 2015. The submissions of the SSG were to the effect that the inherited cash balance of the state in March 2014 was N9b while actual investments by the previous administration stood at N35.5b. The response from the former governor’s camp initially consisted in restating correctness of the disputed handover figure, questioning the motive behind scrutinising the document now and calling for a committee of accountants to wade into the issue. A second round of reactions seemed more deliberate, more calculated and designed to appeal to sentiments. In one breadth, there was an affectation of superiority that held in contempt the option of hurling bricks; a promise of statesmanship that pledged commitment to nurturing of the state and in another a resort to wild allegations intended to incite the people against the government.

By largely ignoring the self – evident parameters that contradict the N75b figure in their reactions, the Obi camp betrayed the porosity of its defence. What clarification is demonstrated in the divide in which it is stated clearly in the handover note that the state’s bank balances as at December 31, 2013 stood at N11.5b only to declare at the unveiling of the documents’ deficits that N37b was left in the treasury? No meaningful purpose is served brandishing supposedly bank statements on television when the declared balance and confirmed deposit say otherwise. Is the Peter Obi constituency owning up to the unreliability of the handover figures? This is true of the actual cash situation as it is of some other items because it is established that in the period from January to March 17, 2014, the stated N11.5b was drawn down to approximately N9b, the very sum inherited by the Obiano administration.

The sum of N3.5b quoted in the handover papers as investment in Intafact Beverages Limited, manufacturers of the Hero brand, is simply false. To date, Anambra State has invested N1.9b in the company, broken down to N1.4 by the Obi administration and N540m by the Obiano government. The status cum value of stock instruments is easily verifiable from the Registrar of Securities. No one needs a committee of accountants to confirm the standing of the investment.

There should also be no controversy about the ineligibility of including the Nigeria Independent Power Project valued at N9b in a document intended to list investments undertaken by the Peter Obi regime. The above-named investment was initiated and executed by the federal government as a national venture involving the central government and the 36 states. The argument of the Peter Obi camp that the principle of handover admits voluntary and involuntary investments self defeats as the list is not exhaustive of the state’s equity holdings. Anambra State has stakes in Nigercem Company, Nkalagu and estates in Enugu, Lagos and Abuja. Why were these not included in the handover list in the standard of all receivables?

It amounts to playing on the intelligence of Ndi Anambra to say that the previous administration ploughed N1b into the Onitsha Shopping Mall when no such payment was made. What is being presented as investment of Anambra State’s funds is no more than the conversion of the state’s land to 15% equity stake. For the avoidance of doubt, Africa Capital Alliance is the financial investor of the venture.

Ifeanyi Afuba, Nimo, Anambra State