Enugu Government doubles down on infrastructure

The Enugu State Government has pledged N183bn (approximately US$115mn) for the development of road infrastructure across the state

According to an announcement on the Government website, the approvals were confirmed at the end of the State Exeutive Council meeting and approved funding that will see the construction of 141 roads across Enugu metropolis 20 rural roads across the three senatorial zones of the state. Additional funding was also approved the delivery of 133 more smart schools.

These projects are in furtherance of Governor Peter Mbah’s determination to grow the state’s economy from US$4.4bn to US$30bn, achieve a 0% poverty headcount index as well as position the State as a premier destination for business, investment, and tourism explained Chidiebere Onyia, Secretary to the State Government.

“Recall that before now, the state’s total budget hovered around N100bn and N120bn with capital expenditure of about N30bn or capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 25 to 35%,” stated Onyia. “However, in keeping with Governor Mbah’s promise to de-risk investments, boost production, and run a lean and prudent government, the governor proposed an unprecedented N521.5bn 2024 budget with a capital expenditure totaling over N400bn, which is an equivalent of capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 80% and recurrent expenditure ratio of about 20%.

“Accordingly, the theme that we took away from Exco today is doubling down. The Government is doubling down on infrastructure. If you recall, we started with 71 urban roads and 10 rural roads last year. Now, the governor and the Executive Council have also approved 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads.”

He continued by noting that although there are fewer rural roads in number, the scale of the work is actually greater – three times those approved for the metropolis in terms of kilometres.

“This is part of the strategies to improve the quality of life in the rural communities and importantly to de-risk investments in agriculture,” continued Onyia. “Outside security, which we are effectively dealing with, the big elephant in the room is to scale-up the production and movement of produce from farmlands to the market. We also understand the need for processing, hence the heavy investments in road infrastructure.”