Governor Peter Mbah has presented a budget of ₦521.6 billion for 2024 to the Enugu House of Assembly for approval.

Presenting the budget tagged ‘Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth’ on Tuesday to the Enugu lawmakers, Mr Mbah said it was 132 per cent higher than the revised 2023 budget of over ₦210 billion.

He said the budget was made up of ₦107.2 billion in recurrent expenditure and ₦414.3 billion in capital expenditure.

He gave a breakdown of the recurrent expenditures to include the opening balance of ₦11 billion, internally generated revenue ₦252 billion, statutory revenue ₦60 billion, excess crude and others ₦16 billion, and value-added tax (VAT) ₦44 billion.

The governor said 33 per cent of the budget would go into the education sector, adding that the government had started the construction of 260 ultra-modern smart schools in all the political wards of the state.

“These schools are unique not only in the fact that they would house the entire basic school classes from Crèche to JSS3 but also in terms of the significant changes. We are making changes to the curriculum of the children, where we will be infusing new subject areas like technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence,” Mr Mbah stated.

“In addition, the approach to teaching in these schools will be experiential, with extensive use of practical examples, dramatisation, and gamification,” he noted.

This “requires extensive re-training of our teachers” to enable them to grasp these new learning approaches and the various technology-based teaching and learning tools to which “we shall deploy tablets, interactive whiteboards, and learning management systems,” said the Enugu governor.

Mr Mbah said $22.8 billion had been budgeted for the health sector to enhance healthcare facilities, expand access to quality healthcare services, and bolster response to health emergencies.

He said the goal was to ensure every citizen had access to reliable and efficient healthcare services.

“We pledge to upgrade healthcare facilities, ensure the availability of essential medicines, and implement initiatives to enhance public health awareness,” Mr Mbah stressed. “In particular, we have commenced the construction of 260 Type-2 primary health centres across the 260 wards in the state to cater to the health needs of rural communities.”

Upon receiving the budget, the speaker of the Enugu assembly, Uche Ugwu, assured that the lawmakers would give it speedy passage to enable the government to execute its developmental agenda.

(NAN)