HOPE-GOV targets 80% budget implementation in basic education, primary healthcare

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The HOPE Governance Programme said it is building the capacity of state officials to achieve at least 80 per cent budget implementation in the Basic Education and Primary Health Care sectors across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Joe Mutah, its Communications Officer.

It said the National Coordinator of the programme, Dr Assad Hassan, disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Implementation Support Mission for South-West states.

The mission was organised by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, the World Bank and the Lagos State Government.

Hassan said the programme recently trained 388 state officials on effective budget planning and execution for the 2027 financial year.

He said the aim was to ensure every Naira budgeted for the two sectors had a realistic pathway to implementation.

“The whole aim is that at the end of the day, every Naira that is budgeted for these two sectors in each of the states should have a realistic pathway to implementation, so much so that once you look at the budget of a state, you can clearly see not just what the state is planning to spend but what the state intends to achieve.

“We are going to see instances where the budgets are maximised so that implementation hits 80 per cent and above in these two sectors. Ultimately, it is to ensure that we have stronger primary health care and better basic education in the states,” he said.

Hassan commended the Lagos State Government for its initiatives in the sectors, particularly the 10-year Primary Health Care Financing Compact and the EKOEXCEL initiative in basic education.

He said the state, Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas signed the compact to improve primary healthcare delivery over 10 years, while EKOEXCEL aims to embrace technology in public primary classrooms.

“What the HOPE Governance Programme tries to achieve is to help catalyse such initiatives at the state level so that there is improvement in these two sectors,” he said.

Also speaking, the World Bank Task Team Lead for the HOPE Governance Programme, Mr Ikechukwu Nweje, said the Implementation Support Mission was convened to assess the status of programme implementation across participating states and provide necessary support to achieve its objectives.