Nigeria's World Bank-backed HOPE Governance Programme will disburse $27 million in performance-based grants to states that met key governance and public finance reform targets, marking the first round of incentives under the initiative aimed at improving basic education and primary healthcare.
The announcement was made on Tuesday in Abuja by the programme's National Coordinator, Dr Assad Hassan, during a retreat attended by commissioners, permanent secretaries and directors of budget and planning from Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The incentives follow an assessment by an Interim Independent Verification Agent, which evaluated participating states against a set of "Year Zero" Disbursement-Linked Results (DLRs) tied to budget transparency, planning and financial management.
Under the first two performance indicators, Bayelsa, Borno, Kano, Kebbi and Yobe states each qualified for $1.5 million after adopting standardised guidelines for preparing and submitting consolidated budgets for basic education and primary healthcare.
A further nine states, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kano, Plateau, Taraba and Yobe—will each receive $500,000 for adopting harmonised local government budget guidelines and chart of accounts.
