• Civil servants commend gov for N25,000 wage award

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has signed the N521.5 billion Enugu State 2024 Budget into law, saying it would engender disruptive economic growth, radical infrastructural development and efficient service delivery.

Mbah, who said that the appropriation law, consisting N414.3 billion capital expenditure, representing 79 per cent of the budget, and N107.2 billion, representing 21 per cent of the budget, would rely heavily on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), charged members of the executive arm of government on robust revenue mobilisation and service delivery.

Speaking during the budget signing, which was witnessed by members of the state Assembly, led by the Speaker, Uchenna Ugwu, as well as commissioners and other top government functionaries at the Government House, Enugu, yesterday, Mbah thanked members of the state legislature for their support across party lines.

He said that the expeditious passage of the budget was a product of executive-legislature collaboration during the making of the budget estimates, listing the multiple gains expected from the budget.
He said: “What this budget signing means to the people of Enugu is that we are going to be spending over N400 billion on capital projects next year. This is the first time in the history of the state that we are spending that size of funds on capital projects, because we are spending 20 times more than what has been typically our capital expenditure outlay in Enugu.

“We call this the ‘Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth’ based on the size of our capital expenditure. It also means that we are going to have large economic activities in the state.

“You can imagine an economy that is typically used to doing N20 billion capital expenditure now going to witness over N400 billion. It is going to be monumental in a way that our people will be lifted from poverty, and economic activities will blossom.”

Meanwhile, some civil servants in Enugu State, yesterday, commended the governor for paying them N25, 000 wage awards in December as promised.

On November 15, Mbah announced cash transfers of between N10, 000 and N25,000 to workers in the state from December to April 2024 to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.

Some of the workers, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that they appreciate the governor’s gesture.

One of the civil servants said: “You can see we are happy, and because of this, we are excited to resume work after the Christmas holidays.

“We thank God for good health, and for bringing us safely to our offices after the Christmas celebrations.’’

Another civil servant confirmed the development, but, however, noted that some civil servants had not received the largesse because of bank issues.