The Federal Government, in partnership with the World Bank, has begun the implementation of a $500m Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity–Governance Programme, aimed at strengthening financial and human resource management in basic education and primary healthcare across the country.
The National Coordinator of the HOPE-Governance Programme, Assad Hassan, confirmed the commencement on Tuesday in Abuja while briefing the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Deborah Odoh, where the programme is domiciled.
A statement issued by the programme’s Communications Officer, Joe Mutah, said the intervention was designed to address long-standing governance gaps in the education and health sectors, particularly at the sub-national level.
Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally, while primary healthcare centres across many states remain understaffed, underfunded, and poorly equipped, challenges that have been compounded by weak public financial management systems at the sub-national level.
According to Hassan, the World Bank-assisted facility is structured into two components, a Programme-for-Results and an Investment Project Financing window.
He explained that $480m of the funding would be used to incentivise states to meet clearly defined Disbursement-Linked Results in basic education and primary healthcare, while the remaining $20m would support programme coordination, independent verification of results, monitoring and evaluation, and technical assistance.
“In terms of program financing and scope, it’s a World Bank-assisted credit of $500m, which is split into two components. One is the Program for Results, while the second is Investment Project Financing.
“$480m is earmarked to incentivise the States to achieve the Disbursement Linked Results in the two sectors, while the $20m Investment Project Financing component has three key areas for implementation. One is programme coordination, the second is verification of results at the state level as well as monitoring and evaluation and the third is technical assistance for implementing agencies i.e. the states, UBEC, Ministerial Oversight Committee of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning,” Hassan said.
He listed the implementing institutions to include state governments, the Universal Basic Education Commission, the Ministerial Oversight Committee of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
Hassan identified three core focus areasbof the HOPE-GOV Programme as increased financing for basic education and primary healthcare, improved transparency and accountability in budgeting and audits, and enhanced recruitment and retention of teachers and primary healthcare workers.
“For HOPE-Governance, our primary objective is to see how we improve financial and human resource management in these two sectors by focusing on three key areas: the first is an increase in funding for the two sectors. In this regard, we are working with the Universal Basic Education Commission as well as the Ministerial Oversight Committee, Basic Health Care Provision Fund in the Federal Ministry of Health, and their counterparts at the state level.
“Then the second key area is enhance transparency and accountability in the budget for both sectors, the audit report, and the citizens’ format budget. Basically is about public financial management in the two sectors. Then the third and final area. We want to see improved recruitment and retention of teachers as well as primary health workers,” he added.
He noted that participating states would be assessed based on six Disbursement-Linked Indicators, which would be tracked by the programme and independently verified before funds are released.
Providing background on the initiative, Hassan said the World Bank approved the HOPE-GOV Programme on September 26, 2024, following the successful negotiation of the financing agreement in August 2024.
He added that the Federal Executive Council approved the agreement in February 2025, and it was countersigned by the Federal Government in April 2025, and the programme was declared effective in September 2025. According to him, all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory have indicated interest in participating, with Subsidiary Agreements already dispatched to states for execution.
Under the Programme-for-Results component, Hassan explained that states are expected to invest upfront in meeting the agreed indicators before receiving performance-based incentives. “The way the programme is designed is that you achieve results in one year and get incentivised, and that incentive is then reinvested to deliver results in the following year,” he said.
He added that the programme would soon engage Interim Verification Agents to validate states’ first-year performance.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Deborah Odoh, pledged the ministry’s full support to ensure the programme achieves its objectives.
She also commended the HOPE-GOV team for the progress recorded within its short implementation period, describing the programme as critical to improving service delivery outcomes in education and healthcare.
The programme comes against the backdrop of chronic underperformance in human capital outcomes, with Nigeria consistently ranking low on global education and health indicators, including the World Bank’s Human Capital Index.
Despite statutory funding mechanisms such as the Universal Basic Education Fund and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, many states have struggled to access available resources due to counterpart funding gaps, weak planning, delayed audits, and poor reporting systems.
The HOPE-GOV Programme is therefore designed to reward performance rather than promises, linking financing directly to verifiable results and encouraging states to reinvest incentives into subsequent reforms.
