Where Did ₦1 Trillion Go?

Where Did ₦1 Trillion Go?

By Peter Obi

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.

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.

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 ₦1 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.

A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO