Gideon Arinze in Enugu

Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has predicted that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) may surpass the N600 billion target set for 2025.
Mbah also expressed optimism that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will overcome its present challenges and become competitive again.

The governor spoke during an interactive session with members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), on the side-lines of the Guild’s Biennial Convention held in the state at the weekend.

He disclosed that Enugu State recorded N144 billion IGR in 2024.

According to Mbah, the state does not have to rely on third-party funding to finance its many on-going infrastructure projects.
He explained that his administration had expanded the tax net, which led to the significant increase in IGR.

Mbah stated, “Before we came in, the highest we did as a state was about N25 billion in terms of our IGR annually.

“This year, our IGR projection is about N600 billion and we are likely going to achieve, if not exceed that figure. At some point, there was the misconception that we increased the tax rate, but that was not true.

“What we simply did was to expand the tax base. We brought in those who were not captured and who were not in the tax net, into the net.

“We also ensured that our processes were automated by eliminating collections through manual or cash and ensure that payments are done on electronic or digital platforms directly into the government accounts.

“So, just largely stopping the leakages and expanding the tax net, we are able to grow our tax base by over 200 fold, from N25 billion to about N571 billion that we are expecting this year.”

He stressed that the ongoing infrastructure projects and programmes across the state were beyond bricks and mortar, saying that his administration is also focused on building the capacity of civil servants who would manage the system.

He stated, “We have a programme, for instance, that ensures that all our civil servants have access to digital training and making sure that our processes are instituted. In fact, all the MDAs, over 111 of them in Enugu, are included in our e-governance platform.”

Mbah said, “Some of the things we are doing are those soft things whose impact may not be felt today, but in the future. We are building the Enugu of tomorrow and we need to build the institutions.

“What we have done since we came in is that we have migrated from manual ways of running government to e-governance. So, as a government, we are quite nimble and agile. In terms of cost, we are also not very big and we are also able get things done fast.”

He disclosed, “We came up with three transformational objectives when we assumed office. We actually set out a blueprint of what we are going to do in Enugu.

“One was to grow the economy of Enugu exponentially, by growing it from the $4.4 billion, when we took over, to $30 billion in eight years.

“If you calculate it, that will translate to 27 per cent compound annual growth rate in eight years, which is a seven-fold growth rate. I think that is quite ambitious. But that was a promise we made to the people of Enugu State and we are going to accomplish that by industrialising the state and bringing in the private sector.

“The second thing we said to our people in Enugu was that we are going to eradicate poverty and achieve a zero poverty headcount rate. We know clearly what it means to get to a zero poverty headcount rate.

“That means that we are going to invest hugely in social services, education, health-care, employment generation and enhancing capacity for our youths so that they can become employers.

“We also said we are going to make Enugu State the premier destination for investment, business and tourism. So, most of the ongoing projects you see all over the state today, none is done in isolation or informed by knee-jerk reactions. They were all carefully designed to connect the dots.”

When asked if with the gale of defection from PDP he was not considering leaving the opposition party, Mbah said, “Our constitution does not have provision for someone to run as an independent candidate. So, our platform is the PDP and we are still here.

“As you are aware, we have our challenges and we are dealing with it and, hopefully, we shall resolve it. Our objective is not to be distracted because if you lose steam you may not be able to deliver on the promises you made.

“I believe at the end of the day, the people will have to decide whether they want to renew our mandate or kick us out. So, that decision will be made by them.”

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