Education takes largest share as Mbah presents N521bn 2024 budget to Enugu assembly

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, on Tuesday, presented N521.5 billion 2024 budget – the highest in the history of the state.

Mbah presented the bill, titled ‘Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth’  before the state house of assembly, comprising N414.3 billion capital expenditure and N107.2 billion recurrent expenditure.

He said the budget is structured to drive growth in a markedly different pattern than the government has attempted to do.

“We are proposing a total budget size of N521,561,386,000.00 for the 2024 fiscal year as against the approved revised provision of N224,697,899,063.00 for 2023. This represents a 132% increase from the 2023 revised budget,” the governor said.

“In the area of our revenues, we estimated that total recurrent revenues during 2024 will amount to N383,789,000,000.00 as against the approved revised provision for 2023 of N143,571,592,917.”

Breaking down the government’s expected revenue sources, Mbah said, although the state had an opening balance of N11 billion, it expects to receive 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).

“For 2024 fiscal year, recurrent expenditure which is proposed at N107,227,266,000.00 is made up of N47,583,677,000 personnel costs, N41,804,698.000 overhead costs, and N17,838.891,000 consolidated revenue charges,” he said.

“With the total recurrent expenditure at N107,227,266,000.00, this translates to a net recurrent revenue of N276,561,734,000.00, which is thus transferred to the capital development fund.

“The total capital expenditure for the year 2024 is projected at N414,334,120,000.00 as against N135,715,099,693.00 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.

“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.”

‘N134BN FOR EDUCATION, N21BN FOR HEALTH’

Speaking further on the various sectors in the state, Mbah said capital expenditure distribution took N207.8 billion, followed by the social sector, which got N182.9 billion.

“As I mentioned earlier, education is a key plank in our strategy to eradicate poverty in our state. Consequently, N134,587,982,647.78 representing 73.6% of the social sector has been earmarked to help reinvent education in our state by developing the new smart schools, which I mentioned earlier, as well as repositioning our senior secondary and tertiary institutions,” Mbah said.

“This capital expenditure on education combined with the planned recurrent expenditure in the sector will bring our total spending on education to 33 percent of the total budget.”

Other allocations highlighted by the governor include; infrastructural development and maintenance (N82.5 billion), agriculture (N25.1 billion) water (N28.9 billion), and health (N21.7 billion).

While thanking the house of assembly for its support, Mbah asked that all stakeholders join hands “in this journey towards a better future for all residents”.

Responding, Uchenna Ugwu, speaker of the state assembly, commended the governor for the remarkable impacts he made in six months, including the restoration of water to Enugu city.

Ugwu pledged to do thorough and expedited work on the 2024 budget estimates.