Enugu Assembly Passes N521.5bn Appropriation Bill

The Enugu State House of Assembly, Thursday, passed the 2024 budget estimate, totalling N521,561,386,000 into law.

Presenting the report on the screening of the budget estimate at the floor of the House, the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Anthony Nwankwo, said the committee found the budget estimate flawless and urged the parliament to accept and pass it into law.

Supporting the members of the House, Members of the House, including the opposition, commended Governor Peter Mbah highly for leading what they described as a paradigm shift in the recurrent and capital expenditures ratios in budgeting that had always titled against the people, noting that with a capital expenditure of N414,334,120,000, representing over 79 per cent of the entire budget, the state would soon witness uncommon infrastructural development. The House, therefore, unanimously passed the bill into law.

Meanwhile, in his remarks following the passage of the bill, the speaker, Hon. Uchenna Ugwu, said the role of the House was not ended yet, as it would undertake robust oversight to ensure full implementation of the law in the interest of the masses.

He said: “Today, Members of the state House of Assembly performed their constitutional duty and have just passed this ‘Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth’ into law. It is now a working document for the executive arm of this government.

“The budget that has about 79 per cent capital expenditure and 21 per cent recurrent expenditure, with each sector of the economy like agriculture, education and the health sectors taking large portions of the funds, is capable of delivering prosperity to the people of Enugu State.

“I, therefore, enjoin the executive to try very hard to implement the content of their document. And I want to assure the people of this state that this House of Assembly is going to take our oversight functions very seriously.

“It is not going to be business as usual. We are going to ensure that every fund we have appropriated is put to judicious use.

“Let me also take this opportunity to thank our dear governor, Peter Mbah, for giving a lifeline to the economy of this state.”

Recall that Governor Mbah had on December 5, presented a budget estimate of N521.5bn, the highest in the state’s history, which the House of Assembly had pledged to accord expedited consideration to deliver growth and development to the people of the state.