The World Bank has approved $27 million in performance-based incentives for Nigerian states that successfully implemented key governance reforms under the HOPE Governance Programme, with five states emerging as the biggest beneficiaries.
The National Coordinator of the HOPE Governance Programme, Assad Hassan, disclosed this on Tuesday during a retreat in Abuja for commissioners, permanent secretaries and directors of budget and planning from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to a statement issued by the programme’s Communications Officer, Joe Mutah, the incentives are based on states’ performance in implementing reforms in the education and primary healthcare sectors.
The statement explained that the rewards followed the successful achievement of the Year Zero Disbursement-Linked Results (DLRs) under the World Bank-supported programme, which is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
It added that the disbursement was approved following the recommendations of the Interim Independent Verification Agent, which assessed each state’s compliance with the programme’s performance indicators.
Bayelsa, Borno, Kano, Kebbi and Yobe emerged as the top-performing states and will receive a combined $15 million.
Each of the five states qualified for $1.5 million under Disbursement-Linked Result (DLR) 2.1 for adopting comprehensive guidelines for preparing and submitting consolidated work plans for state basic education budgets.
They also qualified for another $1.5 million each under DLR 2.2, which measures the adoption of similar guidelines for state primary healthcare budgets.
Under DLR 2.3, which focuses on the adoption of harmonised budget guidelines and a chart of accounts by local governments, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kano, Plateau, Taraba and Yobe qualified for incentives of $500,000 each.
In addition, 15 states qualified under DLR 4.1, which rewards the publication of the 2025 Citizens Budget for basic education and primary healthcare by February 28, 2025.
The states are Abia, Bayelsa, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau and Yobe, with each state set to receive $500,000.
Speaking on the disbursement, Hassan said only states that met the programme’s requirements within the stipulated timelines were eligible for the incentives.
He noted that the awards were based on the findings of the Interim Independent Verification Agent, which conducted a comprehensive assessment of states’ performance against the Year Zero Disbursement-Linked Indicators under the HOPE Governance Programme.
