Twenty Nigerian states will receive a combined $27 million in performance-based grants under the World Bank-supported Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) Governance Programme after meeting key reform benchmarks in education, healthcare and public financial management.
The National Coordinator of the HOPE Governance Programme, Dr. Assad Hassan, announced the disbursement during a retreat for Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries and Directors of Budget and Planning in Abuja.
The HOPE Governance Programme is a $500 million World Bank-backed initiative implemented through the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to improve financing for basic education and primary healthcare while strengthening transparency, accountability and workforce management.
Hassan said the grants were awarded based on states’ performance against the programme’s Year Zero Disbursement-Linked Results (DLRs), a set of reform milestones that participating states must achieve before becoming eligible for funding.
The reform targets included adopting comprehensive planning guidelines for basic education and primary healthcare, implementing harmonised local government budget guidelines, and publishing Citizens’ Budgets to improve transparency in public spending.
Following an independent assessment, states that met the required benchmarks qualified for funding.
Bayelsa, Borno, Kano, Kebbi and Yobe each secured $1.5 million under DLR 2.1 for adopting comprehensive guidelines for consolidated basic education work plans.
The same five states also qualified for an additional $1.5 million each under DLR 2.2 after adopting comprehensive planning guidelines for primary healthcare work plans.
Under DLR 2.3, which focused on harmonised local government budget guidelines and a standard chart of accounts, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kano, Plateau, Taraba and Yobe each qualified for $500,000.
Meanwhile, Abia, Bayelsa, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau and Yobe each earned $500,000 under DLR 4.1 after publishing their 2025 Citizens’ Budgets for basic education and primary healthcare.
Hassan noted that several participating states missed out on the grants because they failed to meet the prescribed reform requirements, missed submission deadlines or did not publish the required documents on their official websites.
The Federal Government and the World Bank formally launched the $500 million HOPE Governance Programme in December 2025 to strengthen financial management and human resource systems in Nigeria’s basic education and primary healthcare sectors.
Of the total funding, $480 million has been earmarked for performance-based grants to states that achieve agreed reform milestones, while $20 million will support technical assistance, institutional capacity building and programme implementation.
The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with state governments, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Basic Health Care Provision Fund oversight structures, and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
The World Bank approved the programme in September 2024. The Federal Executive Council ratified the financing agreement in February 2025 before it became effective in September 2025.
