Enugu votes N183bn for 161 roads

The Enugu State government has approved the sum of N183bn for the construction of 141 roads across the Enugu metropolis and 20 rural roads across the three senatorial zones of the state.

The government also approved the award of 133 more smart schools in addition to the ongoing 127 smart schools, to bring them to 260 or one smart school per political ward.

A statement by Governor Peter Mbah’s Media Office on Sunday said the approvals were announced at the end of the State Executive Council meeting presided over by the governor, at the Government House, Enugu, at the weekend.

The Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, who briefed journalists, said the projects were in furtherance of the governor’s determination to grow the economy from $4.4bn to $30bn.

The statement partly read, “Recall that before now, the state’s total budget hovered around N100bn and N120bn, with capital expenditure of about N30bn or capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 25 to 35 per cent.

“However, in keeping with Governor Mbah’s promise to de-risk investments, boost production, and run a lean and prudent government, the governor proposed an unprecedented N521.5bn 2024 budget with a capital expenditure totalling over N400bn, which is an equivalent of capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 80 per cent and recurrent expenditure ratio of about 20 per cent.

“Accordingly, the theme that we took away from exco today is doubling down. The government is doubling down on infrastructure. If you recall, we started with 71 urban roads and 10 rural roads last year. Now, the governor and the council have approved 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads.”

It noted that although the rural roads were 20 in number, compared to 141 in the Enugu metropolis, the rural roads were longer, nearly three times those approved for the urban centres in terms of kilometres.

“This is part of the strategies to improve the quality of life in rural communities and importantly to de-risk investments in agriculture.

“Outside security, which we are effectively dealing with, the big elephant in the room is to scale up the production and movement of produce from farmlands to the market.

“We also understand the need for processing, hence the heavy investments in road infrastructure,” Onyia stated.

The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Gerald Otiji, listed the roads to include the dualisation of the 41.3km Abakpa Nike-Opi-Nsukka Road with bridges, dualisation of Penocks Junction – Nike Lake Road to T-Junction flyover, Nomeh-Mburubu-Nara Road with two bridges, Umabi-Ehuhe Achi with a spur to Agbudu-Ihe-Owelli-Ogugu by Enugu-Port Harcourt old road, Nomeh-Oduma Road, Mburubu-Nkereffi Road, and Amodu-Akpugo Road.

Also approved were Iheaka-Ibagwa Road, Ibagwa-Itchi-Unadu-Alor Agu-Ibeje Road, Amagunze-Ihuokpara-Ugbawka Road with a bridge, Obeleagu Umana (Nkwo Ezeagu)-Omughu Umana-Aguobu-Umumba Road, Nara-Nkerefi Road with a bridge, Amagunze-Akpawfu Road, Amagu-Attakwu-Akegbe Ugwu-Akpasha Road, Obinagu Udi-Isu Awa Road, and Nsukka-Ibagwa-Ogurute-Ette Road.

Others included Obuofia-Obeagu-Akegbe Ugwu Road, Obinofia-Ndiagu-Ugwuoba Road by Enugu-Onitsha expressway, Orie Engine-Aguobu-Umumba-Ebenebe Road to Anambra State border, Ituku Roads, Ozalla Roads, among others.

Otiji further explained that in selecting the 141 roads for construction and reconstruction, the government was deliberate in ensuring that all the zones, namely, Emene, Thinkers Corner, Abakpa, Trans Ekulu/New GRA/Old GRA, Awkunanaw (Achara Layout/Uwani/Gariki), Independence Layout, Ogui/Asata, and Coal Camp were covered.

The Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Lloyd Ekweremadu and the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Eze Aka, said the council was also briefed on the ongoing hi-tech security surveillance camera installations around the state and the planned turnaround and upgrade of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.