The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has challenged the Federal Government to show evidence of disbursement of N1 trillion to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, in Nigeria since 2015.
Obi gave the charge in a post on his verified X handle on Wednesday, saying that most Nigerians are not aware of any such disbursement.
He stressed that over 80 percent of the citizens are unaware of the very existence of the Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN, which released the report.
According to him, 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.
“I recently read a report from the DBN stating that it has disbursed over N1 trillion to MSMEs in Nigeria since 2015. By simple conversion over the said period, this amounts to more than $1 billion.
If indeed such an amount was deployed to support enterprises, the results should be evident. 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 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.
“But 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 N1 trillion truly left the coffers of DBN to empower Nigerians, where did the money go?
“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. Who exactly were the beneficiaries? What tangible businesses were created? Where is the proof of jobs generated or poverty reduced?
“Without answers to these questions, the claim of ₦1 trillion disbursement remains yet another round of grand deception, where scarce national resources are captured by a few elites and recycled under the guise of empowerment schemes.
“Nigeria must insist on transparency and accountability. Our people deserve evidence that such vast sums are being invested in their lives and future—not lost to corruption or buried in empty statistics,” he wrote.
