The Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, has been recognised and commended for being prudent in managing state resources, especially the cost of governance, in the first quarter of 2024.
While the governor was recognised and awarded ‘The Most Prudent Governor’ in Q1, 2024 by Open Nigerian State, a website supported by BudgIT, the commendation came from civil society organisation known as the Enugu Good Governance Group (E-3G).
The group, in a statement by its national coordinator, Odinaka Okechukwu, said the report published by Open Nigerian State which showing that the Mbah Administration recorded the least recurrent expenses among other states in the first three months of 2024, is yet another indication that the governor’s presence in government was inspired by selfless service.
Data published by Open Nigeria States based on the budget implementation by the states shows that whereas Benue, Imo, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto and Yobe states have no data to their names, the remaining 30 state governments spent N986.64bn on recurrent expenditures, which includes workers’ salaries, refreshments, sitting allowances, travelling and utilities within the period under review.
Lagos State recorded the highest recurrent expenses nationally, having spent N189.62 billion, followed by Delta State, which recorded N68.68 billion.
Ebonyi State recorded the highest recurrent expenses in the South East with N14.95 billion, followed by Abia State with N10.92bn and Anambra State with N9.91bn. Enugu State recorded N7.51 billion to emerge the least in in both the region and the entire country. Imo has no data.
“This is a clear testimony to the high level of fiscal discipline in the Mbah Administration, and a demonstration that accountability, transparency, and traceability, which he said would be the guiding principles in the administration of public funds were not mere campaign buzzwords.
“With a record N107.2 billion recurrent expenditure, representing about 21 percent of Enugu’s N521.5 billion 2024 budget and a whooping N414.3 billion or 79 percent of the budget earmarked for capital projects, Governor Mbah has left no one in doubt of his commitment to disrupting the status quo to transform the state in all ramifications,” the group said.
They also commended the governor’s disposition to citizen engagement. Besides several town hall meetings and media engagements, Mbah recently engaged the citizens on X (formerly Twitter) space, devoting two full hours to interact with mostly the younger generation on the policies, programmes, and projects of his government, among others,” the group said.
The group enjoined Mbah to continue on the path of prudence and putting the people above self.
