APC chieftain cautions Gov Mba to be ware of squeezing N1.4 trillion out of stone
By Tom Okpe
Founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) and indigene of Enugu State, Osita Okechukwu has cautioned Enugu State Governor, Peter Mba, to beware of the dangers of squeezing water out of stone.
Okechukwu, who reminded the Governor of the economic hardship and sufferings, being encountered by the people, stressed that it would be inhuman to subject them to extreme taxation.
He reminded the Governor that the good people of Enugu State, like most poor Nigerians, have for long, been in dire economic straights, where cost of food items, transportation, medication and sundry items have hit the roof tops.
Speaking with selected journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, (VoN) said the people do not need further disruption, while commenting on the 2024 Enugu State budget, recently delivered by the Governor, christened Budget of disruptive economic growth.
He said: “One admires the zeal, passion and ambition of Gov Mba, to budget N1.2 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year.
“However, one has to caution him to beware of the dangers of squeezing the projected sum out of stone.
“I shivered, when I heard the Governor mention the word maximization of internally generated revenue, and I imagined if it is not from the same impoverished folks of which over 40% fall under multidimensional poverty cadre.”
When reminded that internally revenue generation drive, is universal in all the States of the federation and not restricted to only Enugu State, the APC chieftain agreed, but singled out the multidimensional poverty status of indigenes of the State and contradiction of over taxation.
“I don’t know the current Nigeria Bureau of Statistics poverty ranking of my State, but the little one knows is that, there is abject poverty, gross unemployment and palpable insecurity which has driven a lot of farmers out of their farms.
On his advice to Governor Mbah, Okechukwu advised that he should rely on the Federation Account Allocation Committee’s, (FAAC) monthly revenue accruals as his seed money and make sure, it is transparently utilized.
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“The problem is that, most Governors utilize FAAC monthly allocation as pocket money and squander it for personal expenses, instead of tangible investment.”
“He should establish cordial relationship with Federal Government so as to benefit from projects like the Enugu Urban Water scheme, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Universal Basic Education Commission, (UBEC) programs among others.
“He should also, intensify collaboration with his colleagues in the private sector so as to fund 1,000 mega watts, sulphur dioxide emission controlled Coal-fired Power Plant.
“This will attract investors as experts believe that power supply is fundamental to simulating investment and economic growth.”
Reminded that climate change advocates will frown at Coal-fired-Power Plant, Okechukwu pointed that existence of Flue Gas Desulfurisation, (FGD), which are air pollution control devices for sulphur dioxide emissions, takes care of climate change.
He regretted the crass hypocrisy of the developed countries, where as of July 2023, China has 1,142, India 282, USA 210, Japan 93, Germany 58 of Coal Fired Power Plants, respectively.
