The World Bank-supported HOPE Governance Programme of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning is collaborating with state governments across Nigeria to tackle critical shortages of teachers and primary health care workers in basic education and primary healthcare sectors.
National Coordinator of the programme, Dr. Assad Hassan, disclosed this on Tuesday during the HOPE Governance Programme Implementation Support Mission for the North East in Gombe.
Dr. Hassan said the programme is focusing on improved recruitment and equitable deployment of teachers and primary health care workers, particularly to hard-to-reach areas, to strengthen service delivery.
“We are also trying to look at how we can improve the recruitment of teachers as well as primary health care workers. Not only recruitment but also equitable deployment of teachers and primary health care workers,” he said.
He noted that addressing manpower gaps in the two critical sectors forms part of the Disbursement Linked Results (DLRs) agreed between the World Bank and participating states under the $500 million intervention programme.
Under the Programme-for-Results model, states that meet the agreed targets will receive additional funding to further invest in basic education and primary healthcare.
“The HOPE Governance Program provides us with an added opportunity to strengthen our systems in terms of accountability and also ensuring that public resources deliver real impact for citizens across service delivery for primary health care and basic education,” Dr. Hassan stated.
He stressed the importance of institutionalising the reforms introduced by the programme to sustain gains and ensure long-term impact.
“We need to keep asking ourselves, how do we sustain the gains we have made? How do we institutionalize the reforms that we have made thus far because without this, we cannot really make impact on our citizens,” he added.
Dr. Hassan commended the Gombe State Government for hosting the Implementation Support Mission and for its strong commitment to the education and health sectors, particularly its target to reduce the number of out-of-school children by 50% by 2030.
The World Bank Task Team Lead for the HOPE Governance Programme, Ikechukwu Nweje, explained that the mission was convened to review states’ progress on the Disbursement Linked Results and to promote peer learning among participating states.
The Implementation Support Mission was declared open by the Secretary to the Gombe State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, on behalf of the state governor.
States from the North East, as well as Plateau and Jigawa States, participated in the mission.
