World Bank Rewards Nigerian States with $27m for Education, Healthcare Reforms

Five Nigerian states are set to receive a combined $15 million in performance-based incentives under the World Bank-supported HOPE Governance Programme after emerging as the best performers in implementing key education and primary healthcare reforms.

The National Coordinator of the HOPE Governance Programme, Assad Hassan, disclosed this during a retreat for commissioners, permanent secretaries and directors of budget and planning from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory held in Abuja.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the programme’s Communications Officer, Joe Mutah, the World Bank has approved a total of $27 million in incentives for states that successfully achieved the Year Zero Disbursement-Linked Results under the programme.

The rewards followed an assessment conducted by the Interim Independent Verification Agent, which evaluated states based on specific governance and reform indicators.

Bayelsa, Borno, Kano, Kebbi and Yobe emerged as the biggest beneficiaries, qualifying for $1.5 million each under Disbursement-Linked Result (DLR) 2.1 for adopting comprehensive guidelines for consolidated basic education work plans.

The same states also earned another $1.5 million each under DLR 2.2 for implementing similar guidelines for primary healthcare work plans, bringing their combined allocation under both indicators to $15 million.

Under DLR 2.3, which assessed the adoption of harmonised budget guidelines and a chart of accounts for local governments, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kano, Plateau, Taraba and Yobe qualified for incentives of $500,000 each.

Another 15 states, including Abia, Bayelsa, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau and Yobe, also qualified for $500,000 each under DLR 4.1 for publishing their 2025 Citizens Budget for basic education and primary healthcare within the required timeline.

Hassan explained that only states that met all stipulated requirements before the deadlines qualified for the incentives.

He noted that several states failed to benefit because they either missed the deadlines or did not satisfy the programme’s conditions.

The coordinator identified weak institutional coordination among ministries, departments and agencies as a major obstacle affecting performance.

He added that the programme had commenced a capacity-building initiative to strengthen state institutions and improve future compliance as verification for the next phase of results continues.