Enugu State Honoured at BusinessDay SCIRA 2025
Enugu State emerged as a standout performer at the BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Investment Readiness Awards (SCIRA) 2025, clinching two prestigious awards: the Infrastructure Development Competitiveness Award and the Outstanding Performance in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Award. The awards were presented at a ceremony held in Abuja on Thursday night, where Governor Peter Mbah was represented by the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ben Okoh, and the Executive Chairman of the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS), Mr Emmanuel Nnamani.
Publisher Praises Governor's Infrastructure Impact
Presenting the awards, the Publisher and CEO of BusinessDay Media Limited lauded Governor Mbah for his transformative approach to public infrastructure, emphasizing that his efforts transcend political motivations. He recounted his visits to Enugu, noting that even taxi drivers were eager to showcase the state's development. “One thing I found especially quite interesting was that Governor Mbah did not set aside everything that he met, which could have been a waste of public resources. He looked at what is good and he rebuilt them; the ones that were not completed, he completed them,” he stated.
He further highlighted the governor's efficient use of resources, saying, “I saw good roads, and I don’t mean good roads in the major highways, I mean good roads even in the communities that are far away from the prime areas of the state capital, Enugu. I thought that that is a very good example of a private sector person, who knows what to do with resources, because if you use resources well, you get more from little and that is what the governor has done.”
Commissioner Outlines Achievements
In his response, Commissioner Ben Okoh thanked BusinessDay for recognizing the Mbah Administration's efforts at rewriting the state's narrative. He stressed that Enugu has many success stories to tell in just three years and described the awards as a motivation to do more. “As the governor always says, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Okoh remarked.
Okoh reeled out several achievements, stating that “Enugu State has witnessed an unprecedented infrastructural revolution, the type we have never seen since the advent of this present democracy in 1999.” He cited the completion of inherited projects such as the International Conference Centre, the revival of Hotel Presidential and Nigergas Company, which had been moribund for over 30 years. He also noted that in road construction, the administration has done far more than double what any previous government achieved in eight years, with over 600 kilometers of roads built.
Smart Schools, Health Centres, and New City
Okoh highlighted the establishment of 267 smart schools and 260 primary healthcare centres across the state. He also announced the development of a new Enugu City, spanning 10,000 hectares—the size of Bahrain and larger than the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. “This is the first time a state in Nigeria would be undertaking an integrated infrastructure development, which is what we have in the FCT where all the facilities in the modern city are underground, and telecommunications lines—the fibre optics, the electrical cables, water pipes, everything is underground. It is not just a vision; the projects are already ongoing,” he said.
Okoh further noted that Governor Mbah has touched every sector, including tourism, security, agriculture, education, and transport, where the administration floated Enugu Air, built five ultramodern transport terminals, and launched over 150 CNG buses.
Record IGR Growth
The Mbah Administration has also disrupted the state's IGR space through reforms and technology. According to data, the state's IGR grew exponentially from N26.8 billion in 2022 to N37.4 billion in 2023, N180.5 billion in 2024, and N406.7 billion in 2025, with tax revenue accounting for only N51.5 billion or 12.6 per cent of the 2025 IGR proceeds.
About the Awards
BusinessDay is Nigeria’s leading business newspaper, and the SCIRA recognizes and celebrates states that have demonstrated exceptional performance in governance, economic development, infrastructure delivery, investment promotion, and the creation of an enabling environment for businesses and citizens to thrive.
