The Nigerian government has announced that it is ramping up efforts with the 36 state governments to participate in the $500 million World Bank-assisted loan facility under the HOPE Governance Program.
This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by the spokesperson for the scheme, Joe Mutah.
Commenting on the program, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Deborah Odoh, stated that the ministry is collaborating closely with the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure that all 36 states of the Federation sign the Subsidiary Loan Agreement that would enable them to participate in and benefit from the World Bank-assisted HOPE Governance Program.
Odoh made these remarks in Abuja on Wednesday when she received the HOPE Governance Team from the World Bank on a courtesy visit to her office.
“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.
The permanent secretary pledged to provide all the necessary institutional support to ensure that HOPE Governance delivers significant impact across the country.
“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 said.
The World Bank Task Team Leader, HOPE Governance Program, Ikechukwu Nweje, had earlier appealed to the Permanent Secretary to utilize all available channels within the Ministry to engage state governments and secure the signing of the Agreement, thereby enabling them to access funds under the Program upon verification of the Disbursement-Linked Results.
“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.
He stressed that governance remains a key challenge to improved service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors, which is why the federal government, in collaboration with the World Bank, has initiated the HOPE Governance Program to address the issue.
“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.
Earlier, the National Coordinator of the HOPE Governance Program, Dr. Assad Hassan, stated that the meeting was convened with the World Bank to apprise the Permanent Secretary of the milestones recorded and the challenges encountered in the implementation of the program so far.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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