Teachers in Enugu State, under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), have hailed Governor Peter Mbah for allocating a whopping 33 per cent of the total 2024 budget sum to the education sector. Civil society groups and economists have also lauded the governor for approving people-focused infrastructural projects and programs capable of turning the fortunes of the state around. Mbah had on Tuesday laid a N521.5billion 2024 Appropriation Bill at the House of Assembly.
The budget tagged: “Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth”, comprises N414.3billion Capital Expenditure, representing about 79 per cent of the budget and N107.2billion Recurrent Expenditure, representing about 21 per cent of the budget.
Whereas the economic sector and infrastructure came tops on sectorial allocation basis with N207.8billion and N182.9billion in the Capital Expenditure distribution, education got 73.6 per cent of the social sector provision, and 33 per cent of the entire budget. Reacting to the budget estimates, Chairman of the Enugu State Wing of the NUT, Comrade Theophilus Odo, said: “The governor has shown in every way that he has great interest in education.
“Honestly, when he said during the last convocation at Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) that education would get over 30 per cent of the budget, we hardly believed him because it had never been like that anywhere in Nigeria, including at the federal level. But with this, we are very happy and relieved that a leader is giving this all-important sector the deserved attention.
“As the governor rightly pointed out in his budget speech, education is one of the surest ways of ensuring sustainable eradication of poverty. By implication, this budget is for the benefit of our children, the teachers and the entire society. “So, on behalf of the entire teachers of Enugu State, I say a big ‘thank you’ to the governor for his great vision for education in the state.”
