Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has presented the 2025 budget of N971.84 billion to the state House of Assembly for consideration and approval.

Mr Mbah presented the budget tagged “Exponential Growth and Inclusive Prosperity” on Tuesday at the legislative complex in Enugu.

He said his administration sought to lay the right foundation to enhance the state’s economic growth.

Mr Mbah said the 2025 budget estimate was over N450 billion higher than the 2024 budget of N521.5 billion, representing an 86.4 per cent increase.

He pointed out that the budget was in line with his administration’s vision to grow the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) from $4.4 billion to $30 billion, which he noted was achievable.

Giving the budget breakdown, the governor revealed that N133.1 billion would go into recurrent expenditures while N837.9 billion would be spent on capital expenditures.

On the sectorial budget, he said N320.6 billion of the budget would go into education, N260 billion to works and infrastructure, N82 billion to agriculture, N45 billion to health, while the sports sector would get N13 billion.

He said the capital budget would be channelled to the completion of 260 smart schools, ultra-modern hospitals, the first phase of New Enugu City, the dualisation of Abakpa-Opi Nsukka road, and the upgrade of Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.

According to Mr Mbah, the four bus terminals at the Holy Ghost, Abakpa, Garriki and Nsukka would be commissioned on December 22, while the state-owned airline, Enugu Air, would be launched a few weeks from now.

On the review of the 2024 budget, the governor disclosed that as of October, the current budget had achieved 88.6 per cent, which he said was a big achievement for his administration.

He added that the state generated N107 billion internal revenue, which he maintained was expected to grow to over N500 billion and gave the assurance that no part of the state would be left out.

Receiving the budget, the speaker, Uche Ugwu, said the House would start the process of passing the appropriation bill in record time.

Mr Ugwu urged heads of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to come for their budget defence for more clarity on their budget estimates.

(NAN)