By Chinwendu Obienyi
Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo revealed on Tuesday the debt left behind by his predecessor, Willie Obiano, is in excess of N100 billion.
Soludo, while speaking on the Morning Show on Arise Television monitored by Daily Sun said his predecessor left N300 or 400 million cash and a debt of over N100 billion as of December 31, 2021.
The revelation from Soludo comes after the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) recently arrested former Governor Willie Obiano at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
‘First, in terms of finances, there is an audited account of Anambra as at December 31, 2021, which is a public document which anyone can access. Between the audited accounts as at the end of the year 2021, everyone knows that the state finances are not quite robust. In terms of debt, it is in the range of over N100 billion and then cash at which the state has is N300 or N400 million, but we are still going to have all the reconciliations and all the accounts from January to the date we had the handover,’ he revealed.
According to Soludo, ‘Anambra State intends to have a transparent public finance management where we are going to publish our accounts so that everyone will have a knowledge of what is there and what is missing and what funds have been used for.’
Speaking further, the former Central Bank Governor, revealed that conversations around that are still ongoing as the state is engaging with all stakeholders to tackle security challenges in the state.
‘After the swearing-in, I went into the office straight away and a few minutes after that I started the security council meeting of the state which lasted more than three hours. The conversations about that are still ongoing and I believe that we will get to crack it and the sit-at-home thing will definitely end. We are in discussions with the stakeholders, IPOB and everyone else and it is the people’s power that will prevail at the end of the day.
‘The poor innocent artisans like keke drivers and traders are suffering; but the elite, they can afford to watch TV and so the state is losing out as its people are impoverishing. We are determined to restore law and order,’ he said.