The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Soludo, has disclosed why his administration has not taken any loans since he assumed office, attributing the decision to the country’s previous macroeconomic conditions, particularly exchange rate distortions that made foreign loans excessively costly.
Soludo made the disclosure while delivering a goodwill message at the Delta State Economic and Investment Summit 2026, held in Asaba, the Delta State capital, on Monday.
He commended Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori for convening the investment summit and described Delta as his “rich neighbour.”
Soludo disclosed that he had not borrowed “a dime” since becoming governor but stopped short of saying his administration would never borrow.
“I haven’t borrowed a dime since I became governor,” he said. “But I will hesitate to make the other one that you added, which is that you will never.”
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria explained that borrowing decisions should be guided by prevailing economic realities, noting that Nigeria’s recent macroeconomic stability had altered the country’s fiscal landscape.
According to him, one of the key takeaways from the presentations delivered by the Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, and the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was that Nigeria had attained greater macroeconomic stability and was on a path to economic recovery.
“From a macroeconomic standpoint, Nigeria has stabilised and is on the rise,” he stated, describing the development as “something to celebrate” given the country’s previous economic challenges.
He explained that his administration withdrew Anambra State from a World Bank loan shortly after he assumed office because of concerns over exchange rate volatility, arguing that even a zero-interest foreign loan could become prohibitively expensive when the naira depreciates significantly.
“When I became governor, I pulled Anambra State out of an ongoing World Bank loan. Anambra was the only state that pulled out,” he said.
“If you are giving me money and I change it at ₦460 to the dollar today, when I know that tomorrow it will be over ₦1,000, even if you lend it to me at zero interest, the effective interest rate is over 100 per cent.”
The governor noted that the economic environment had since improved, saying the exchange rate distortions that influenced his earlier decision had largely been addressed.
