World Bank, FG intensify push to deliver $500m HOPE-GOV programme across Southwest

The World Bank, Federal Government and Southwest states have intensified efforts to strengthen the implementation of the $500 million Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity-Governance (HOPE-GOV) Programme, with emphasis on improving public financial management in primary healthcare and basic education.

The stakeholders highlighted the importance of effective budget planning, credible financial systems, workforce management and accountability in ensuring that investments in the two critical sectors translate into improved service delivery.

The discussions took place during a two-day HOPE-GOV Implementation Support Mission for the Southwest region, hosted by the Lagos State Government at Marcellina’s Place, Ikeja.

Speaking during the engagement, the National Coordinator of the HOPE-GOV Programme, Dr Assad Hassan, said the initiative, domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, was designed to strengthen financial and human resource management in primary healthcare and basic education across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He explained that while the complementary HOPE Primary Healthcare and HOPE Basic Education programmes focus directly on service delivery, HOPE-GOV addresses the public financial management systems required to ensure effective implementation.

“We’re trying to see how we improve budget planning and execution in the two sectors,” Hassan said.

He disclosed that 388 officials drawn from the 36 states and the FCT had recently received training on effective budget planning and execution for the 2027 fiscal year.

According to him, the objective is to ensure that every naira allocated to primary healthcare and basic education has a realistic implementation pathway.

“The whole aim is that at the end of the day, every naira that is budgeted for these two sectors in each of the states should have a realistic implementation pathway,” he said.

On Lagos State’s education interventions, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, said the government was committed to providing children with quality education irrespective of their social backgrounds.

He highlighted the state’s increasing use of technology to monitor school attendance, classroom participation and learning outcomes, noting that digital interventions were becoming central to improving educational delivery.

Alli-Balogun identified teacher capacity development and professionalism as key priorities, explaining that the state was strengthening teacher recruitment, professional development and motivation to improve classroom performance.

He also highlighted Project Zero, an initiative aimed at identifying and reintegrating out-of-school children into the education system. The programme provides vulnerable children with essential learning materials, including uniforms and textbooks, to support their return to school.

Other interventions include the distribution of smart learning devices to senior secondary school students to improve academic performance and prepare them for external examinations, including the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

He added that the state was working to ensure equitable distribution of core textbooks, particularly in Mathematics, English and Science, across more than 1,028 primary schools and 275 junior secondary schools.

Addressing implementation challenges, the World Bank’s Senior Public Sector Specialist and Team Leader of the HOPE-GOV Programme, Mr Ikechukwu Nweje, said the initiative adopted a Programme-for-Results financing approach, which allows participating states to use their existing systems to achieve agreed targets and receive funding based on independently verified results.

Although he acknowledged initial implementation delays and performance challenges, Nweje expressed optimism about improvements in subsequent verification exercises.

He said the programme was designed to address critical gaps in the delivery of essential public services, including shortages of teachers in schools and skilled birth attendants in primary healthcare centres.

According to him, these deficiencies have significant implications for maternal and child mortality, as well as the persistent challenge of out-of-school children.

“You can’t teach children when there are no teachers or properly qualified teachers in schools. You can’t reduce maternal mortality or child mortality when you don’t have skilled birth attendants,” he said.

Nweje explained that the World Bank’s broader development objective was to tackle poverty at its foundation by ensuring that children receive quality education while mothers and newborns have access to the skilled healthcare services needed to survive.

In his goodwill message, the Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Ope George, stressed the importance of strong institutional systems, credible budgets, payroll integrity and evidence-based allocation of resources.

He said the technical review provided an opportunity to safeguard investments in primary healthcare and basic education while ensuring equitable deployment of frontline personnel.

“Effective governance demands that we periodically test our strategies against operational realities,” George said.

Similarly, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs Olayinka Ojo, said Southwest states remained committed to providing the coordination, institutional authority and administrative ownership required for successful implementation of the programme.

She expressed appreciation to the World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning Joint Task Team for their technical partnership and responsiveness to the operational realities of subnational governments.

Representing one of the participating states, the Focal Person and Director of Multilateral Relations in the Ekiti State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Lawrence Omoniyi, said Ekiti had leveraged the programme’s framework to strengthen human capital development at the grassroots.

He disclosed that the state had employed approximately 1,700 health workers and 1,000 teachers for basic education as part of its efforts to improve service delivery.

The two-day engagement, which began on Tuesday, November 10, and ended on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, brought together World Bank officials, Federal Government representatives and stakeholders from participating Southwest states.

The implementation support mission focused on reviewing progress, addressing operational challenges and strengthening coordination among stakeholders to ensure that the HOPE-GOV Programme delivers measurable improvements in public financial management, primary healthcare and basic education across the region.