Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has raised concerns about a report from the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) stating that it has disbursed over ₦1 trillion to small businesses since 2015.
Earlier this year, DBN’s Managing Director, Tony Okpanachi, announced that the bank had disbursed over ₦1 trillion to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), stating that more than 69,000 MSMEs, especially those in economically disadvantaged states like Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Zamfara, and Adamawa, have benefited from the bank’s support.
However, Obi, in a tweet on Wednesday, said that many small business owners he spoke with were unaware of the DBN or any loans from the bank.
Obi added that over 80% of small businesses do not even know the bank exists or have received any funding from it.
“I recently read a report from the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) stating that it has disbursed over ₦1 trillion to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria since 2015. By simple conversion over the said period, this amounts to more than $1 billion,” Obi wrote.
“I did not comment immediately on this claim because I wanted to investigate further, especially through my travels and contacts with small businesses across the country. The reality is that most of them are not even aware of any such disbursement, and over 80% are unaware of the Bank’s very existence. The level of knowledge about the existence and utility of such an institution is directly proportional to its impact on the people it is meant to serve.”
He explained that if such a large amount had been effectively deployed, the results should be obvious.
“For instance, if $1 billion were disbursed in small loans averaging about $,1000 each, it could have supported at least 1 million small businesses.”
The former presidential candidate also noted that “the ripple effect of this would have been no less than 3 million new jobs, with visible growth in enterprises, an improved economy, and measurable progress in lifting people out of poverty.”
Obi added that “the reality before us today tells a different story: unemployment remains at a record high, businesses are struggling to survive rather than thriving, many enterprises are shutting down or relocating outside Nigeria, and poverty is deepening instead of reducing. So the critical question is: if ₦1 trillion truly left the coffers of DBN to empower Nigerians, where did the money go?”
He then demanded answers about “who exactly were the beneficiaries? What tangible businesses were created? Where is the proof of jobs generated or poverty reduced?”
Obi noted, “How can such a huge sum be disbursed and yet ordinary Nigerians feel no impact? Empowerment is not a slogan or a campaign tool – it must be proven by results. Nigerians need to know where the money went.”
Without these answers, Obi claimed that the ₦1 trillion disbursement risks being dismissed as “another round of grand deception, where scarce national resources are captured by a few elites and recycled under the guise of empowerment schemes.”
He then called for transparency and accountability, noting that Nigerians “deserve evidence that such vast sums are being invested in their lives and future—not lost to corruption or buried in empty statistics.”
