By Agency Report
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, has presented a budget of N521.6 billion for 2024 to the House of Assembly for approval with education taking a huge chunk.
Presenting the budget tagged Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth on Tuesday at the Assembly Complex in Enugu, Mr Mbah said it was 132 per cent higher than that of the revised 2023 budget of over N210 billion.
He said that the budget was made up of N107.2 billion recurrent expenditure and N414.3 billion capital expenditure.
He gave the breakdown of the recurrent expenditure to include the opening balance of N11 billion, Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) N252 billion, statutory revenue N60 billion, excess crude and others N16 billion and VAT, N44 billion.
The governor said that 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.
The UNESCO recommends that 26 per cent of the national budget should be spent on education
“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 we 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, (and) 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, Mr Mbah said that N22.8 billion 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 cater for the health needs of rural communities,” he added.
Receiving the budget, the Speaker of the House, Uche Ugwu, assured that the lawmakers would give it speedy passage to enable the government execute its developmental agenda
