The Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah has signed the N521.5 billion 2024 budget into law which he had earlier on December 5,2023 presented before the State House of Assembly, while seventy-nine percent is for capital expenditure.
Penpushing reports that the Governor while signing the budget at the Government House indicated that it has N107.2 billion for recurrent expenditure, accounting for about 21 per cent, and N414.34 billion for capital expenditure.
The Governor explained that it would engender disruptive economic growth, radical infrastructural development, and efficient service delivery reiterating that the budget would rely heavily on Internally Generated Revenue.
Penpushing further reports that he, however, charged members of the Executive Arm of Government on robust revenue mobilisation and service delivery in the state, and equally commended the assembly members for their support despite coming from different political parties.
The Governor said the expeditious passage of the budget was a product of executive-legislature collaboration during the making of the budget estimates, stressing that what the signing of the budget meant was the government going to be spending over N400 billion on capital projects in the next year.
‘What this budget signing means to the people of Enugu is that we are going to be spending over N400 billion on capital projects in the next year. This is the first time in the history of the state that we are spending that size of funds on capital projects because we are spending 20 times more than what has been typically our capital expenditure outlay in Enugu State,” he said.
Penpushing also reports that Mbah explained that the size of the budget meant that the state is going to have large economic activities i and a way of reducing poverty in the state and going to be monumental to the people
‘It is going to be monumental in the ways our people are lifted out of poverty and in the ways economic activities will blossom. Most important is that it is going to ensure that we address most of the gaps we have in our social services. In the education sector, the signing of this bill into law means that we are now looking forward to 260 smart schools across the state.
“It also means that we are looking forward to 260 Type-2 primary healthcare centres across all our wards in Enugu State. It means that we are going to have radical infrastructural development’, the Governor emphasised.
‘Our Special Agro Processing Zones will come to life. The signing into law of this budget today will ensure that we grow our agriculture so that it is not going to be just for food, it is also going to be for export’, he added
Penpushing further reports that the Governor hinted that the state would borrow to execute the budget in addition to the plan to mobilise over N300 billion from the state’s domestic sources.
‘What this means is that we are all going to work tirelessly to ensure that these revenues are realised. It also means that for us at the Executive Council, our meetings would largely be on our revenue performance,” he said.
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