World Bank Rewards Nigerian States With $27m For Reforms

Five Nigerian states are set to receive a combined $15 million, part of a larger $27 million in incentives approved for states that successfully achieved the Year Zero Disbursement-Linked Results under the World Bank-backed HOPE Governance Programme. Bayelsa, Borno, Kano, Kebbi and Yobe emerged among the biggest beneficiaries of the package, which is worth roughly N41 billion. The announcement was made Tuesday in Abuja by the programme’s National Coordinator, Dr Assad Hassan, during a retreat for commissioners, permanent secretaries, and budget and planning directors from all 36 states and the FCT. 

The HOPE Governance Programme is a $500 million World Bank-supported initiative designed to improve financing for basic education and primary healthcare delivery in Nigeria, while promoting transparency and accountability in public spending across both sectors. The five leading states qualified for $1.5 million each under one results category for adopting comprehensive guidelines on state basic education budgets ahead of a March 2025 deadline, and earned a matching $1.5 million each for similar reforms in primary healthcare budgeting. A separate tier of funding rewarded nine states — including Adamawa, Delta, Gombe, Plateau and Taraba — for harmonising local government budget guidelines.

Despite the payout, Dr Hassan flagged ongoing weaknesses, noting that many states still struggle to establish effective coordination between ministries, departments and agencies, which undermines local ownership of reforms and threatens their long-term sustainability. He said independent verifiers are now working to complete a second phase of assessment by July 2026, and that the programme has launched a capacity-building plan to give technical support to states that fell short, so they can perform better in future funding rounds. The reward scheme is the latest sign of Nigeria’s growing reliance on performance-based World Bank financing, which has totalled roughly $9.35 billion in approvals across sectors like power, education, healthcare and agriculture since 2023.

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