Peter Obi explains why he saved money for Anambra

Mr. Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State and the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate for the 2023 election, has indicated that he conserved money for the state throughout his time in government to make things simple for his successor.

The money saved, according to Obi, who said via his media advisor, Mr. Val Obienyem, would help the government run smoothly and pay employees’ wages for at least two years.

I saved N48,629,473,469 in local money, some of which we attached to particular objectives like paying the two-year salaries of the government workers we hired so he wouldn’t be burdened, Obi added. Awka and Nnewi malls, hotels in Agulu and Onitsha, and other crucial roads, such the completion of the dual carriage road over which we had received authorization from the federal government to build and for which we would be reimbursed by the federal government, were also given funding. We also gave him some so he could continue on the tough work we were performing.

Additionally, there was US$156 million (about N27 billion at that time and about N75 billion today when the yields are added). As we neared the end of the MDGs, we studied the phenomenal achievements of China and discovered that the Chinese regional governments were successful in luring a number of investments due to their capacity to assist or collaborate with the investors in the establishment of productive facilities within their regions.

For instance, several of them effectively contributed 10–20% of their equity, which they were able to do because to their substantial savings.

According to our calculations, if the state could save a specific amount (US$18–20 million) as we did in eight years, until 2030, at an average interest rate of little over 6%, we would be able to save and earn almost $1 billion.

If we take into account that the typical Chinese Small and Medium Scale Enterprise(SME), for instance, was established with roughly two million dollars, we would then spend about 50% of this sum to entice investments.

“Our objective was to achieve 1,000 SMEs facilities dispersed throughout Anambra State, which would jump-start aggressive economic growth within the state, especially as income from oil is coming to an end,” said the project’s leader. “If we would be able to invest 25 percent in each enterprise, which is $500,000, we would be able to achieve this.”