Opinion of Wordshot Amaechi Ugwele
“With Enugu’s IGR hitting an impressive ₦406.7 billion in 2025, a 125 percent jump from the previous year, which came from the ₦26 billion it was when the administration came in 2023, the state has not only broken its own records, upping the ante by a staggering record of one thousand, four hundred and sixty four times (1464%), it has also rewritten expectations, positive, of higher possibilities, the type Governor Peter Mbah had always wanted to create.”
WHAT is happening in Enugu State since the coming of Governor Peter Mbah is not a product of wishful thinking. It is not accidental either, as it is all a purposeful governance in practice.
It is the outcome of intentional and well calibrated leadership, driven by extensive planning, deliberate reforms, fiscal discipline, and accountability working in sync.
What Enugu State is witnessing today, in plain truth that is in plain sight, is a textbook example of how smart governance translates vision into verifiable numbers.
With Enugu’s IGR hitting an impressive ₦406.7 billion in 2025, a 125 percent jump from the previous year, which came from the ₦26 billion it was when the administration came in 2023, the state has not only broken its own records, upping the ante by a staggering record of one thousand, four hundred and sixty four times (1464%), it has also rewritten expectations, positive, of higher possibilities, the type Governor Peter Mbah had always wanted to create.
That kind of growth is not cosmetic. It reflects structural shifts in revenue collection, expansion of the tax base, plugging of leakages, and renewed confidence in the state’s economic direction.
From ₦406 billion today to ₦870 billion in sight for 2026, the trajectory is bold yet realistic. If the current momentum holds, and all indicators suggest it can, the ₦870 billion target is not an overreach; it is a logical progression, where Enugu is good the people are seeing.
Revenue growth of this magnitude signals more than improved accounting of figures in a ledger. It is a good indication of an economy being repositioned to scale up the developmental trajectory of the state.
Record-breaking Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) does not happen by accident. It is hard work. And IGR is not just a number to be celebrated; it is a tool. It is how infrastructure is funded without overreliance on federal allocations.
It is how roads are built, schools modernized, hospitals upgraded, and security enhanced. It is how jobs are stimulated through strategic public investments that crowd in private capital. It is how growth becomes tangible.
So, Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah deserves commendation for driving this transformation. Leadership sets the tone, and under his watch, Enugu is demonstrating that ambitious projections backed by structured execution can yield measurable outcomes.
The same decisiveness seen in infrastructure expansion, digital governance reforms, and private-sector partnerships is now clearly reflected in the state’s financial performance.
However, sustaining this momentum will require consistency. Continued transparency, strategic reinvestment of these revenues into productive infrastructure, and policies that actively support businesses and job creation will be critical. Revenue growth must translate into visible improvements in quality of life of the people.
That is the ultimate validation of all the efforts.
Now that the funds are here and growing, the conversation must evolve. The opposition should join the rest of the good citizens of Enugu in acknowledging this is truly a phenomenal IGR performance.
They should play down on partisan criticism as the focus should shift from habitual fault-finding to constructive engagement.
Fiscal strength removes excuses, even as the Enugu government is never known with that. What remains is execution they, the opposition, should be part of, through patriotically driven opinion input.
This is because, as of necessity, citizens, stakeholders, and even critics have a role to play, not in denying progress, but in ensuring that implementation of life-changing projects remains efficient, inclusive, and impactful. Progress is best protected when people rally behind it.
After all, Enugu is rising. Not by rhetoric, but by results. From ₦406 billion to ₦870 billion in sight, the state is charting a path that demonstrates what disciplined leadership, the type it is fortunate to have been blessed with, can accomplish, under which tomorrow is never a distant promise, but just a project away.
