The Nigerian government has intensified efforts to ensure all 36 states participate in the $500 million loan facility supported by the World Bank under the HOPE Governance Program.
This was disclosed in a statement by the program’s spokesperson, Joe Mutah, highlighting ongoing coordination between federal authorities and state governments.
Speaking on the initiative, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Deborah Odoh, said the ministry is working closely with the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure all states sign the Subsidiary Loan Agreement required to access the funds.
Odoh made the remarks in Abuja while receiving a delegation from the World Bank’s HOPE Governance team during a courtesy visit.
“We have been strategizing with the Federal Ministry of Finance with the involvement of our Honourable Minister Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu. We will put in extra efforts to make it happen even faster given the time constraints. We have a timeline drawn up recently to achieve this,” she said.
She also assured that the ministry would provide the necessary institutional backing to ensure the program delivers meaningful impact nationwide.
“I’m glad we are having this meeting, which is long overdue, and certainly we are here all the time. We expect to see more tangible results and impact shortly,” she added.
Earlier, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the program, Ikechukwu Nweje, urged the ministry to accelerate engagement with state governments to facilitate the signing process, which is required before funds can be disbursed based on verified performance outcomes.
“However you can help us to fast track these processes, this will really be appreciated to get this program up and running in terms of disbursement,” he said.
Nweje emphasized that governance challenges continue to hinder effective service delivery, particularly in basic education and primary healthcare, which the program aims to address.
“If the governance part fails, we will continue to have the same problems we are having on the sectoral side. That is why the ministers prioritized governance because they found out that governance is the issue in the two sectors that will help to unlock the ability to deliver results,” he stated.
Also speaking, the National Coordinator of the HOPE Governance Program, Assad Hassan, said the meeting was convened to brief the Permanent Secretary on progress made so far, as well as challenges encountered in implementing the initiative.
