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The Governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has revealed that he inherited over N100bn debt from his predecessor Willie Obiano when he took over the affairs of the state last week Friday.
Soludo, while speaking on the Morning Show on Arise Television said his predecessor left only about N300m or N400m cash when he handed over to him.
After handing over to his successor, the former governor was intercepted by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Thursday last week.
He was said to be on his way out of the country to Houston, Texas in the United States before he was arrested and later transferred to the EFCC head office in Abuja.
Obiano was reported to have been arrested for misappropriating N5bn Sure-P and N37bn security vote funds, which were allegedly withdrawn in cash.
Soludo in the interview expressed worry over the poor state of finances in Anambra state, saying that the treasury is in bad shape and in need of restoration.
He said, “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 N100bn and then cash at which the state has is N300 or N400m, but we are still going to have all the reconciliations and all the accounts from January to the date we had the handover.
“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.”
On the insecurity challenges facing the state, Soludo expressed optimism that his administration will effectively come up with workable strategies to address the issue.
He said the current spate of insecurity is affecting the level of productivity in the state as artisans and other categories of businesses are currently suffering.
Soludo added, “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.”
