By Ayomide Otitoju
The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has called on the Federal Government to provide evidence of the reported disbursement of ₦1 trillion to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria since 2015.
Obi, in a post on his verified X handle on Wednesday, said most Nigerians are unaware of such disbursement and questioned the impact of the funds allegedly released by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).
He noted that over 80 percent of citizens do not even know of the bank’s existence, stressing that the effectiveness of such an institution is tied to its visibility and impact on the people it is meant to serve.
“If indeed ₦1 trillion—over $1 billion—was deployed to support small businesses, the results should be visible. Even small loans of $1,000 each could have supported at least one million businesses, creating over three million jobs,” Obi stated.
He argued that the current reality contradicts DBN’s claims, pointing to high unemployment, struggling businesses, company closures, and worsening poverty levels.
Obi pressed for transparency, asking the government to disclose who the beneficiaries were, what businesses were supported, and what measurable jobs or enterprises were created.
“Without answers, the claim of ₦1 trillion disbursement is yet another round of grand deception, where scarce resources are captured by a few elites under the guise of empowerment schemes,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to demand accountability, insisting that public funds must produce tangible results rather than disappear into “empty statistics.”
