Gov Peter Mbah of Enugu State, has presented a budget of ₦521.6billion for 2024 to the State House of Assembly for approval.
He said that the budget was made up of ₦107.2billion recurrent expenditure and ₦414.3billion capital expenditure.
He gave the breakdown of the recurrent expenditure to include opening balance of ₦11billion, Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) ₦252billion, statutory revenue ₦60billion, excess crude and others ₦16billion and Value Added Tax (VAT) ₦44billion.
The governor said that 33% of the budget would go into 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 JS3, but also in terms of the significant changes.
“We are making to the curriculum of the Children, where will be infusing new subject areas like Technology, robotics, Artificial Intelligence.
“In addition, the approach to teaching in these schools will be experiential, with extensive use of practical, examples, dramatisation, gamification.
“This naturally requires extensive re-training of our teachers to enable them grasp these new learning approaches as well as the various technology based teaching and learning tools which we shall deploy tablets, interactive white boards, Learning management systems,’’ he said.
On the health sector, Mbah said that ₦22.8billion had been budgeted to enhance healthcare facilities, expand access to quality healthcare services, and bolster response to health emergencies. He said that the goal was to ensure that 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.
“In particular, we have commenced the construction of 260 Type-2 Primary Health Centres across the 260 wards in the State to carter for the health needs of rural communities”, he added.
Receiving the budget, the Speaker of the House, Chief Uche Ugwu, assured that the lawmakers would give it speedy passage to enable the government execute its developmental agenda.
