Govt Debunks Obi’s Claim That Breweries He Built Is Highest Taxpayer In Anambra

The Anambra State Internal Revenue Service has responded to claims made by Peter Obi, the former governor of the state and 2023 presidential candidate, that SABMiller Breweries, which he built, is the state’s highest taxpayer.

Obi made the claim last week during a Labour Party governorship campaign in the state. According to him, the breweries he built is of more value than Fun City, a form of amusement park built by Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State.

He said, “The brewery I built in Anambra State gives thousands of people employment. The company is the highest taxpayer in Anambra State. Now compare that to ‘Fun City’.”

Reacting, the Chairman, Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, Dr. Greg U. Ezeilo, said it has made very monumental strides in increasing the internally generally revenue of the state from its very low ebb of between 1.5B to 2.0B per month, and even much lower in the previous years; the tax collection has consistently moved up to 4B per month and with an all-time high of 10.5B in the month of May, 2025.

“A double-check on the last two years’ data (see table below) on tax collections across corporate bodies, including SABMiller, but excluding Federal Institutions, which contribute hugely to the State’s IGR, especially the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) taxes, showed the position of the top 6 taxpayers in the state,” Ezeilo said.

“Interestingly, SABMiller company comes a distant sixth position behind Fidelity bank Plc with a gross tax payment of N656.5M in two years (2023 and 2024). In this sense, the claim can be dismissed with a wave of the hand as the company in question contributed on average, N28M per month in 2023 and N26.62M per month in 2024.”

The AIRS chairman stated that the above clarifications were necessary to situate the claims made by the former governor properly and to provide unambiguous information for the public to consider.

“Additionally, there’s the need to provide answers to certain public inquiries either to prove or disprove the claims as published in the media,” he concluded.