By Joseph Erunke
Abuja—In a decisive push to entrench transparency and accountability in public spending, state governments across Nigeria will now be required to publish details of contract awards in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors every quarter under a Federal Government-World Bank collaboration.
The initiative is being driven by the World Bank–assisted Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE-GOV), programme of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, which is partnering with states to ensure that contract award information was made public within 30 days after the end of each quarter.
National Coordinator of the HOPE-GOV Programme, Dr. Assad Hassan, disclosed this during the first Implementation Support Meeting of 2026 with State Focal Persons, held virtually in Abuja.
The meeting was convened ahead of the programme’s First-Year Verification by Independent Verification Agents, IVAs.
According to him, the quarterly disclosures, mandatory for states participating in the programme, must be published on official state government websites to enable independent verification and qualify states for the disbursement of incentive funds.
He explained that, at a minimum, published contract information must include the project name, awarding institution, award date, name of contractor and contract amount.
“For ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, without e-procurement systems, the Independent Verification Agents will obtain schedules of all contracts awarded above the threshold defined by state procurement laws and confirm whether disclosures on official websites comply with the Open Contracting Data Standard, OCDS,” Dr. Hassan said.
He added that for states with functional e-procurement platforms, the IVAs would verify that online portals were fully established to record and publish procurement data across the entire procurement cycle, in line with OCDS requirements.
Beyond contract transparency, the HOPE-GOV national coordinator announced that states must also publish their 2026 Citizens’ Budget for Basic Education and Primary Healthcare by February 28, 2026.
He outlined key elements to be verified in the citizens’ budget, including sources of revenue, grants and loans, total expenditures by government functions, and clearly identifiable allocations to basic education and primary healthcare.
Other requirements include budget frameworks, sectoral and ministerial breakdowns, lists of major capital projects and their geolocations.
Dr. Hassan disclosed further that states were mandated to publish financial and performance audit reports on basic education and primary healthcare submitted to their Houses of Assembly, as part of efforts to strengthen public oversight.
In another major reform thrust, he said states were expected to complete biometric capture and Bank Verification Number, BVN, linkage for at least 80 per cent of basic education and primary healthcare workers in their public service, a move aimed at flushing out ghost workers and sanitising payroll systems.
“States are currently being engaged to strengthen their institutional arrangements to ensure diligent implementation of the HOPE-GOV programme and achieve maximum results,” he noted.
The virtual meeting drew participation from about 100 officials from across the 36 states of the federation, underscoring the nationwide scope of the reform drive.
The HOPE-GOV Programme is designed to improve governance, efficiency and accountability in human capital investments, with education and health positioned at the heart of Nigeria’s development agenda.
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