The Enugu State Commissioner for budget and planning, Barrister Chris Roberts Ozongwu, says that Governor Peter Mba is committed to making Enugu State great again.
The Commissioner made this call during a press briefing organized by the Ministry in Enugu on Friday, November 8, to breakdown the 2024 budget presented by the Gov. Mba to the State House of Assembly on Tuesday.
In his words, the commissioner said that the total money presented by the governor was N521.5bn
Proposes N414.3bn capital expenditure, N107.2bn recurrent expenditure
He continued that Education gets 33 per cent, as healthcare, infrastructure, water, agriculture, also top budget
In the area of revenues, he said that total recurrent revenues during 2024 will amount to ₦383,789,000,000.00 as against the approved revised provision for 2023 of ₦143,571,592,917”
Giving a breakdown of government’s expected sources of revenue, he said, whereas the state had an opening balance of N11 billion, it expects to rake in N252.7 billion from internally generated revenue (IGR), N60 billion from statutory revenue, N16 billion from excess crude oil revenues and others, while N44 billion would come from Value Added Tax (VAT).
On the Recurrent Expenditure and Capital Expenditure, he explained that 2024 Fiscal Year, Recurrent Expenditure which is proposed at ₦107,227,266,000.00 is made up of N47,583,677,000 Personnel Costs, N41,804,698.000 Overhead Costs, and N17,838.891,000 Consolidated Revenue Charges.
With the total recurrent Expenditure at ₦107,227,266,000.00, this translates to a Net Recurrent Revenue of ₦276,561,734,000.00, which is thus transferred to the Capital Development Fund.
The total Capital Expenditure for the year 2024 is projected at ₦414,334,120,000.00 as against ₦135,715,099,693.00 for 2023 Revised Budget. The current capital expenditure estimate will be funded from the sum of ₦276,561,734,000.00 to be transferred from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and the capital receipts of ₦137,772,386,000.00 to be realised as follows: External and Internal Aids and Grants, N27.922,386,000; Public Private Partnership, N6,100,000,000; Domestic Loans/Borrowings, N71,000,000,000; and International Loans/Borrowing Receipts, N32,750.000.000”.
On sectorial basis, the economic sector got the highest in the Capital Expenditure Distribution, which is N207.8 billion, followed by the social sector, which got N182.9 billion.
However, education got 73.6 per cent of the social sector allocation, and 33 per cent of the total budget, representing the highest in both instances.
Consequently, ₦134,587,982,647.78 representing 73.6% of the social sector has been earmarked to help reinvent education in our state by developing the new smart schools, as well as repositioning our senior secondary and tertiary institutions by training and retraining teachers and updating the State’s School curricula across all levels of education to infuse technology and technology appreciation and skills.
Other top allocations include infrastructural development and maintenance, particularly roads and public buildings, with N82.5 billion agriculture, which got N25.1 billion in pursuit for the self-sufficiency and economic diversification agenda; water, which got N28.9 billion to ensure safe and quality water supply in the state and boost reticulation across the Enugu metropolis; and health, which got N21.7 billion, as the administration ramps up construction of 260 Type-2 Primary Healthcare Centres across the 260 electoral wards. Other priority areas include job creation, and security.
He said that Governor Mba distinguished himself in the oil sector and is deploying the experience to the advantage of the State. He looked at the State and saw so many things that needed to be exploited.
He maintained that Mba’s ambition is to move the GDP of the State from $4.4bn to $30bn .
When asked the government’s aim on smart schools, he explained that the aim of smart schools is to capture the Children at their tender age, as they tend to be successful to influence and learning when they are young.

He explained that the essence is to capture them at younger level and put them through education with modern equipment and materials.
The Commissioner maintained that in terms of costit will be advantageous because they are going to be running with the other types of Schools.
He said the budget would capture the plans in terms of these Schools.
When asked about some roads that were not captured in the budget, the Commissioner said those roads might possibly be in the main budget, but if not, the roads not captured now will be captured in the next budget.
Also speaking during the briefing, the Executive Chairman Enugu State Internal Revenue Board, Emmanuel Nnamani, said that what the government wants to do in terms of revenue generation is not by increasing the tax or rates, but to make sure that every citizen or industries pay their taxes to the State. He said that the available data suggests that the amount provided in the budget is very achievable.
He said they have compelled all the businesses in Enugu to remit their pay as you earn taxes both in private Schools and private hospitals and others.
He maintained that by doing so, the government will double what they have been generating in the State.
Nnamani added that the law provides that the owners of Plazas and residential buildings should pay ten percent of their rents to the government as tax. He regretted that people have not been obeying this law in the State.
Saying that these are the areas they are expecting to increase the internal revenue of the State.
He also said that another area of focus is the land use charge, saying that all lands belong to the government, that If you must maintain these lands over the period of 99 years, you need to pay the maintenance fee. Saying that that maintenance fee government has given you is called the land use charge. He frowned that over the years , nobody has paid this land use charge in the State.
He maintained also that the data shows that Enugu has over four hundred thousand buildings. Adding that if the land use charge of these 400, 000 buildings should be paid into the states account, it will make a positive impact in the revenue generation.