W’ Bank-assisted HOPE Governance Programme Partners States to Bridge Manpower Gaps in Basic Education, PHC

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja 

Determined to address critical manpower gaps in basic education and primary health care sectors in the country, the World Bank-backed HOPE Governance Programme of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning has commenced collaboration with state governments on possible recruitment of more teachers and healthcare personnel.

National Coordinator of the Programme, Dr. Assad Hassan, disclosed this on the sidelines of the HOPE Governance Programme Implementation Support Mission for the North East in Gombe, Tuesday. 

The Communications Officer of the Programme, Joe Mutah, said Hassan disclosed that improved recruitment and equitable deployment of teachers and primary health care workers were essential to strengthening service delivery in the two sectors.

“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. 

“There are challenges in deployment to areas that are hard to reach, so the HOPE Governance Programme is another opportunity to complement already existing efforts of the Federal Government and indeed the state governments to address service delivery in basic education and primary health,” Hassan said.

According to him, filling the manpower gaps in the basic education and primary health care sectors forms part of the Disbursement Linked Results (DLRs) agreed upon between the World Bank and participating state governments under the $500 million intervention programme.

He said that under the Programme-for-Results model of the World Bank, states that achieve the agreed Disbursement Linked Results (DLRs) targets will be rewarded with funding, enabling them to invest additional resources in both sectors.

Hassan stated that the programme was designed to work with the state governments to implement far-reaching reforms in the two sectors by promoting accountability, good governance and ensuring that public expenditure delivers measurable improvements. 

“The HOPE Governance Programme provides us with an added opportunity to see us 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,” he said.

He stressed the need for all implementing agencies and the state governments to institutionalise the reform template of the HOPE Governance Programme to ensure efficient and impactful service delivery across both sectors.

He said: “We need to keep asking ourselves, how do we sustain the gains we have made? How do we institutionalise the reforms that we have made thus far because without this, we cannot really make impact on our citizens.”

Hassan commended the Gombe State Government for hosting the Implementation Support Mission and its commitment to developing the basic education and primary health care sectors in the state.

He described as highly commendable, the commitment of the Gombe State Government to reducing the number of out-of-school children by 50 per cent by 2030.

In his remarks, the World Bank Task Team Lead for the HOPE Governance Programme, Ikechukwu Nweje, said the Implementation Support Mission was convened to assess states’ progress in implementing the Disbursement Linked Results and to facilitate the exchange of experiences among participating states in order to promote peer learning towards the  successful implementation of the programme. 

The Secretary to the Gombe State Government, Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, declared the Implementation Support Mission opened on behalf of the state governor.

States from the North-east, as well as Plateau and Jigawa States, participated in the Implementation Support Mission in Gombe.