TheDiggerNews
Abuja: The Federal Government and World Bank are launching the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity–Governance (HOPE-GOV) Programme.
The (HOPE-GOV) Programme is a 500-million-dollar credit facility aimed at improving financial and human resource management in basic education and primary healthcare.
Dr Assad Hassan, the National Coordinator of the programme, announced this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
Hassan spoke while briefing the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Deborah Odoh, on where the programme is domiciled.
The coordinator said that the World Bank-assisted credit was split into two components – Programme for Results and Investment Project Financing.
He said 480 million dollars was earmarked to incentivise states to achieve Disbursement Linked Results in basic education and primary healthcare.
He further said that 20 million dollars would support programme coordination, results verification, monitoring and evaluation, and technical assistance to implementing agencies.
According to him, the implementing agencies include the states and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Hassan listed 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 as agencies involved.
The national coordinator stated that the programme’s key objectives are to increase financing for basic education and primary healthcare, and to enhance transparency and accountability in the budgeting and audit processes for these sectors.
He said it would also focus on improved recruitment and retention of teachers and primary healthcare workers to address manpower gaps.
“For HOPE-Governance, our primary objective is to improve financial and human resource management in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors by increasing funding, enhancing budgeting and audit transparency, and targeting recruitment and retention of qualified personnel in these fields.
” By focusing on increased funding, enhanced transparency and accountability in budgeting and audit processes, and improved recruitment and retention of teachers and primary healthcare workers,” Hassan said.
He added that states participating in the programme had six Disbursement Linked Indicators, which would be tracked by the HOPE-Governance Programme and appraised by Independent Verification Agents before funds were released.
Providing a background to the programme, Hassan said the World Bank approved the HOPE-GOV Programme on Sept. 26, 2024, following the successful negotiation of the Financing Agreement in August 2024.
He said the Federal Executive Council approved the programme in February 2025. The Financing Agreement was signed in April, and the programme became effective in September 2025.
He said all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) expressed interest in participating in the programme and that officials had dispatched subsidiary agreements to the states for signing.
Hassan said that under the Programme for Results component, states were expected to invest in the Disbursement-Linked Indicators and would be incentivised upon achieving the agreed results.
According to him, state governments will soon engage Interim Verification Agents to verify first-year results.
In her response, Odoh expressed the ministry’s readiness to support the programme to achieve its objectives.
She commended the HOPE-GOV Programme for the achievements recorded within its short period of implementation.
