Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has questioned the federal government over the Development Bank of Nigeria’s (DBN) claim that it disbursed ₦1 trillion to small businesses.
In a post on X, Obi said he investigated the matter through his interactions with entrepreneurs across the country and found that most of them were not aware of the bank’s existence.
“The reality is that most of them are not even aware of any such disbursement, and over 80 percent are unaware of the bank’s very existence,” Obi wrote.
He said if the disbursement truly happened, the impact should be visible in job creation and poverty reduction.
He stated: “For instance, if $1 billion were disbursed in small loans averaging about $1,000 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.”
The former Anambra governor argued that the state of the economy paints a different picture.
He said unemployment remains high, businesses are shutting down, and poverty is deepening.
“So the critical question is: if ₦1 trillion truly left the coffers of DBN to empower Nigerians, where did the money go?” he asked.
Obi added that Nigerians deserve clarity on who benefited from the loans and what tangible outcomes were recorded.
“Empowerment is not a slogan or a campaign tool — it must be proven by results.
“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 said.
