By CHARLES IWUOHA

Governor of Enugu state, Mr Peter Mbah, on Tuesday presented a total budget of ₦521.6bn for 2024 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly.

The budget christened “Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth” is structured to propel growth and bring about a paradigm shift in the way things are done in Enugu State.

A breakdown of the budget proposal shows that the capital expenditure will take ₦414,334,120,000 while the recurrent expenditure is estimated at ₦107,227,266,000.

The Internally generated revenue will provide ₦252,789,000,000 of the estimated amount.

On sectorial breakdown, the Governor kept to his promise of given education over 30 percent of the budget as ₦134,587,982,647.78, representing 33 percent of the budget.

Law and Justice got ₦1,225,643,498.00; regional: ₦1,144,550,000.00; social services: ₦182,149,510,648.00; Health: ₦21,777,421,000.00.

Infrastructure (Road construction/maintenance and rehabilitation of public buildings) will take ₦82,535,147,361.03; water sector ₦28,970,250,000.00; Agriculture will take ₦25,184,154,671.81.

Mbah said the budget “will go a long way in setting the pace for the achievement of our goal.”

The governor while appreciating the Lawmakers for the expedite action given to the supplementary budget, appealed to them to give the current budget same attention

He maintained that His administration’s vision remains to make Enugu be among the top three in terms of GDP and achieve zero poverty.

“Private sector investment is critical to the growth we seek to achieve, hence the necessary infrastructures such as roads, electricity that’s needed to drive this growth will be provided.

The Governor stated that, “We’ve taken the view that reliance on FAAC hasn’t served us well till date and will not take us to the promised land, hence this budget seeks new revenue sources such as our natural resources”.

He disclosed that 2023 amended budget achieved the following: “We’ve recently launched the ultramodern water scheme at 9^th Mile which can produce 70 million litres.

“Awarded contracts for the construction/rehabilitation/maintenance of various roads in the state such as the Enugu/airport/Eke Obinagu road of approximately 21km among others.

“Expanded the social register from 43,000 to 260,000 beneficiaries.

“Commenced accumulation of 300 hectares of land which will be given to commercial farmers and a private firm is already carrying out a pilot scheme on cassava value chain.

“Enugu State investment roundtable which attracted top players in the economic sectors.

“Constructing 260 smart model basic schools in the 260 wards and the pilot school at Owo is ready for commissioning.

“260 type II health centres for in the 260 wards to carter for the health needs of the people.

“To boast security, the introduction of DRS brought the crime rate to the barest minimum and the installation of CCTV is at advanced stage.”

The speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Uche Uwgu, hailed the Governor for fulfilling this constitutional obligation and assured him that the 8^th Assembly will support his administration to achieve the set objectives, while noting that the estimation is a record breaking one.

“The budget size is unusually big and in tandem with your business unusual mantra and we have confidence in your capacity to deliver and we promise to give the budget a speedy consideration,” he said.

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