Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has presented a N 1.62 trillion 2026 budget to the House of Assembly for approval.
Mr Mbah made the presentation on Tuesday at the assembly chamber in Enugu.
Entitled “the budget of renewed momentum,” the 2026 budget recorded a 66.5 per cent increase from the N971 billion 2025 budget presented by the governor in November last year.
The budget
During the presentation, Mr Mbah said N1.3 trillion was earmarked for capital expenditures, representing 80 per cent of the total budget, while N321 billion was allocated to recurrent expenditures, representing 20 per cent of the budget.
Again Education gets over 30% of the budget
In the 2025 budget, Mr Mbah allocated N320.6 billion to the education sector, representing 33.2 per cent of the total budget.
In the 2026 budget, the governor said, without mentioning the figures, he allocated 32.27 per cent of the total budget to the education sector, which is above the 15 to 20 per cent recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
He stressed that the sustained increase in the education budget has been “a deliberate investment intended to secure the future of our children” for a better society.
“When we invest in education, we are not just securing the future of our children. But we are also securing our own too because we already know the price of not investing today in education,” Mr Mbah said.
Funding the budget
Mr Mbah the budget will be funded through a combination of N870 billion in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), N387 billion from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, and N329 billion from capital receipts.
The governor said the spending plan for 2026 will prioritise infrastructure renewal, education, healthcare, water supply, technology, job creation, and security which he said are areas essential to achieving the administration’s long-term development blueprint.
The governor said his administration will be constructing five new bus terminals at Ninth Mile, Four Corner Area, Udi, Awgu and Obollor Afor.
On Enugu Air, he said his government would procure 14 new additional aircraft to bring the total fleet to 20 for the state-owned airline.
Costs
Mr Mbah said N149 billion has been allocated as personnel cost because the government intends to increase its workforce and manpower for delivering on proposed projects.
He said overhead costs were about N120 billion while the consolidated revenue fund received N50 billion.
“So our total recurrent expenditures would be about N321 billion which constitutes a total of 20 percent of our budget,” he said.
Sectoral allocations
Mr Mbah said the administration’s sector got N128 billion, representing 8% per cent of the budget, while the economic sector received N825 billion, representing 51 per cent of the total budget, followed by the law and justice sector which will take N15 billion (1.54%).
The governor said the regional sector received N2 billion (0.17%), the social service sector got N644 billion, representing 40.1 per cent.
IGR, GDP growth
Mr Mbah announced a growth in the IGR of the state.
The governor explained the growth of the state’s IGR followed his administration’s automation of payment of government dues and taxes which blocked unnecessary leakages of revenues.
“The IGR did not increase because people are paying more, but because the system captures more (people),” he said.
He said the state’s Gross Domestic Product has also improved significantly in recent times due to quality economic reforms.
Praise for lawmakers
Earlier, Mr Mbah praised the lawmakers for their consistent support to his administration and commitment to good governance in Enugu.
The governor recalled that the lawmakers swiftly approved the 2025 budget and then
appealed to them to replicate similar efforts on the 2026 budget proposal.
He stressed that the 2025 budget was instrumental for the achievements of his administration within the year, citing building of road projects, Smart Green Schools across the 260 wards, and 260 Type-II healthcare centres among others.
“These achievements now form the foundation for the budget of renewed momentum we seek in 2026,” he said.
House Speaker speaks
During the budget presentation, the Speaker of the Enugu House Assembly, Uchenna Ugwu, praised Governor Mbah for his “transformative leadership” in the state.
Mr Ugwu said, because of the governor’s ingenuity and outstanding performance, Enugu State ranked high in the 2025 budgetary performance in Nigeria.
“The 2026 budget proposal demonstrates a thoughtful and deliberate effort to address the pressing needs of our people; continued investment in education, strengthening infrastructure, improving healthcare delivery, and enhancing security and supporting agriculture,” Mr Ugwu said.
“We members of the House of Assembly, welcome this budget of renewed momentum with renewed optimism.
“Our different standing committees shall indeed brace up and apply both speed and efficiency during our engagements with different ministries, departments and agencies,” he said.
