Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, Saturday, December 30,2023, paid a Christmas homage to Nigeria’s President ,Bola Tinubu at his( Tinubu’s) Bourdillon residence in Ikoyi, Lagos, reiterated support for Federal Government’s economic policies.
He also assured that his administration would deliver on the over N300bn Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) target in the 2024 Appropriation Law of the State, which he signed on Wednesday, December 27,2023.
Gov Mbah (L) in handshake with President Tinubu(R)
Govrrnor Mbah, who spoke with newsmen after meeting with the President, said: “Essentially, I came to convey warm greetings and season’s best wishes on behalf of the government and the good people of the Enugu State to Mr. President.
“I also seized the opportunity to discuss, once again, with Mr. President the impact of some of the policies he has initiated on some of the things we are doing in Enugu State, particularly as it relates to the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). You know that foreign exchange (FX) unification and the removal of the fuel subsidiary have essentially meant that a number of FDI are flowing towards our direction in Enugu State”.
On the state’s N521.5bn 2024 budget, Mbah said: “We are poised to harness the resources. Enugu has played consequential roles in the economic development of Nigeria. So, what we are simply doing is bringing her back to that preeminent position, making sure that we harness all the resources we have within Enugu and to make sure we also mobilise our domestic revenue.
“So, yes, we have proposed an ambitious budget and made ambitious revenue projections. But we are convinced that we are going to realise those revenues,” he said.
On infrastructural development, Governor Mbah disclosed the commitment of his administration to expanding the infrastructural base of the state, quality service delivery, and migration of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to digital platforms for that purpose.
“I am sure you are aware that we have fulfilled what we promised the people in 180 days, which was to provide water to the people in all the homes in the urban areas. And for those who still don’t have, we are expanding the pipeline network to reach them.
“We are building 260 Smart Schools across all the wards in the state. We’re building 260 Primary Healthcare Centres Type-2 across all the 260 wards.
“We are migrating our manual ways of doing things in our various institutions and our various MDAs to a digital platform so we can offer an efficient service to the people of the state,’ Mbah said.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama