The Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah has said that the state will generate N300 billion of its N521.5 2024 budget through internally generated revenue (IGR).
Gov. Mbah made this declaration on Wednesday at the Enugu State House of Assembly as he signed the N521.5 billion Enugu State 2024 budget into law.
This is contained in an official statement released by Dan Nwomeh, Gov. Mbah’s Senior Special Adviser on Media, and can be seen on the official X handle of the SSA.
- “We are talking about less than 12% of our revenue size that we are going to borrow to execute this budget. That is enormous as we are expecting to mobilize over N300bn from our domestic sources, and that has not happened before.
- “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,” Gov. Mbah spoke on the funding of the budget.
According to the statement, the governor promised that the 2024 budget for Enugu State would engender disruptive economic growth, radical infrastructural development, and efficient service delivery.
Focus on capital projects
In the Enugu State 2024 Appropriation Law, Gov. Mbah allocated N414.3 billion which represents 79 per cent of the budget to capital projects.
Gov. Mbah noted that the allocated budget for capital projects for 2024 is 20 times more than what has been typically spent on capital expenditure in the state since inception.
The governor further disclosed that the funds budgeted for capital expenditure would help address the gaps in the social services of Enugu State.
Gov. Mbah mentioned the building of 260 smart schools across the state and the construction of 260 Type-2 primary healthcare centres in all the wards of the state as some of the major capital projects to be embarked upon in Enugu in 2024.
In addition, the governor said that the building of the New Enugu City and the paving of feeder and access roads across the state were part of the infrastructural projects that the Enugu State government will initiate in 2024.
Here is what Gov. Mbah is saying about capital expenditure for Enugu State in 2024:
- “What this budget signing means to the people of Enugu is that we are going to be spending over N400bn 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.
- “We called this the ‘Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth’ based on the size of our Capital Expenditure. It also means that we are going to have large economic activities in Enugu State. You can imagine an economy that is typically used to doing N20bn Capital Expenditure now going to witness over N400bn Capital Expenditure. 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.
- “We are going to build New Enugu City. We are going to have our roads paved. We are going to have feeder roads paved as well as the access roads to our farmlands.
- “We talk about scaling up our production in the agriculture sector. 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.
- “It also means that a new sector will be introduced, the energy and minerals sector, which we hope to use to drive our revenue. It means that our resources in that sector will be harnessed for the benefit of Ndi Enugu”.
