By Tony Adibe
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and indigene of Enugu State, Mr Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday, warned Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mba, against the dangers of “squeezing water out of stone.”
Okechukwu, a founding member of APC, who reminded Governor Mbah of the economic hardship and suffering being encountered by the people, stressed that it would be inhuman to subject them to extreme taxation.
He also 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.
Okechukwu insisted that the people do not need further disruption, adding: “One personally admires the zeal, passion and ambition of His Excellency, Peter Mba, to budget N1/2 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year. However, one has to caution him to beware of the dangers of squeezing 1/4 trillion Naira out of stone. “I shivered when I heard the governor mention the word maximisation 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. And my question is this N1/4 trillion Governor Mba’s disruption on the move?”
Okechukwu, who is the immediate past Director General of Voice of Nigeria (DG, VON), spoke to journalists at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, as per the 2024 Enugu State budget recently delivered by the governor, christened Budget of disruptive economic growth.
Reminded that internal revenue generation drive is universal in all the states of the federation and not restricted to only Enugu State, the APC member agreed. However, he singled out the multidimensional poverty status of majority of the indigenes of Enugu State and the 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.
What is his advice to Governor Mbah? Okechukwu urged him to rely on the Federation Account Allocation Committee’s (FAAC) monthly revenue accruals as his seed money and make sure it is transparently utilised.
He said: “The problem is that most governors utilise FAAC monthly allocation as pocket money and squander it for personal expenses instead of tangible investment.”
“Secondly, 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.
“And, thirdly he should intensify collaboration with his colleagues in the private sector so as to fund 1,000 megawatts, 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 at the existence of Flue Gas Desulfurisation (FGD), which are air pollution control devices for sulphur dioxide emissions, that takes care of climate change.
Okechukwu, however, said he regretted the crass hypocrisy of the developed countries, whereas of July, 2023 China has 1,142, India 282, USA 210, Japan 93, Germany 58 of Coal Fired Power Plants respectively.
