The Anambra State Government has released an official document approving the payment of N363.381m in workers’ arrears, adding a new dimension to the ongoing dispute with former Governor Peter Obi over the financial liabilities inherited by the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
The document, dated May 24, 2025, indicates that the sum was approved as the second tranche of arrears owed 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 Soludo.
The disclosure came on Friday, days after Obi publicly insisted that he left office in 2014 without owing workers their salaries, pensions or gratuities.
The Anambra State New Media Office shared the document on X, presenting it as evidence against the former governor’s position.
In the post, the office alleged, “The Soludo administration paid the first tranche of State workers’ entitlements—entitlements Peter Obi left unpaid during his eight years as governor. Gov Soludo has now, also, paid the second. Peter Obi knows we know he’s lying.”
The document itself seeks approval for the release of N363,381,000 to settle the second tranche under an out-of-court agreement reached between the state government and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees.
The settlement, according to the document, was reached on February 6, 2024, and covered arrears involving workers, pensioners and next of kin of the defunct Water Corporation and ANSEPA.
The payment was scheduled for disbursement in 2026, with the document directing that it be processed through the state government payroll system using a dedicated account.
The then Head of Service stated in the document, “That the agreed second tranche payment of Three Hundred and Sixty-Three Million, Three Hundred and Eighty-One Thousand Naira only (N363,381,000.00) is due for disbursement in line with the Terms of Settlement signed on 6th February 2024.”
The document said the payment would also demonstrate the Soludo administration’s commitment to workers’ welfare, social justice and compliance with agreements reached with organised labour.
However, Obi has continued to dispute the claim that his administration left unpaid workers’ entitlements when he handed over power in March 2014.
Appearing on Arise TV’s Prime Time, Obi said the financial obligations cited by the current administration should not be attributed to his tenure without establishing when they accrued.
“On the day I left office, the government of Anambra State, which I headed, was not owing any salary, gratuity, or pension to those scheduled to be paid by the state government,” he said.
The former governor also maintained that his administration did not leave unpaid obligations to contractors or suppliers whose jobs had been completed, verified and certified.
“We were not owing any contractor or supplier who executed his job, certified and verified—not one,” Obi said.
He further denied borrowing money or issuing bonds on behalf of Anambra State throughout his eight years in office.
“Let me categorically state again: I, Mr Peter Obi, did not approach any financial institution to borrow money or issue bonds on behalf of Anambra State in the eight years I was in government,” he said.
Obi explained that some of the financial facilities linked to his administration were multilateral development funds arranged by the Federal Government for selected states and were not conventional commercial loans obtained directly by him.
He cited Anambra, Ekiti and Bauchi as examples of states that benefited from such concessionary development support.
The former governor also argued that the mere approval of a facility did not automatically mean that the entire amount constituted a debt incurred by his administration.
“Even if I had gone to a bank and borrowed money—even if I had gone to a bank and borrowed money, but I did not spend the money, you cannot call it debt I left,” he said.
The disagreement over the N363.381m workers’ arrears forms part of a broader dispute over the financial position of Anambra State when Obi left office.
The Soludo administration has previously said it inherited liabilities, including salary, pension and gratuity arrears, and has claimed to have cleared about N22bn in inherited gratuity obligations, although some legacy liabilities remain.
The state government has also maintained that arrears involving employees of the defunct Water Corporation were eventually addressed under the present administration through instalment payments.
Obi, on the other hand, has consistently maintained that his administration left behind no outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified debts owed to contractors and suppliers.
While the newly released document confirms the existence of the February 2024 out-of-court settlement and the approval of the N363.381m second tranche, it does not, on its face, establish precisely when the underlying arrears accumulated or which administration incurred each component of the liability.
