PHC Reforms: World Bank-assisted HOPE-GOV Programme Partners BHCPF to Strengthen Coordination 

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The National Coordinator of the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity-Governance (HOPE-GOV) Programme, a World Bank–assisted initiative of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Assad Hassan, has stated that the programme is designed to incentivise implementing agencies, including state governments to institutionalise reforms in budgeting and expenditure management within Nigeria’s primary healthcare and basic education sectors.

Hassan stated this in Abuja, weekend when he led the National Programme Coordination Unit (NPCU) of the HOPE-GOV Programme on an implementation coordination visit to the Ministerial Oversight Committee Secretariat of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF MOC).

The Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) was established under Section 11 of the National Health Act (2014) as a catalytic funding to improve access to primary health care.

It serves to fund a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS), increase the fiscal space for health, strengthen the national health system, particularly at primary health care (PHC) level by making provision for routine daily operation cost of PHCs, and ensure access to health care for all, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Hassan said: “For us, it is not just about dishing out the money but if you look at the scope of the programme, it’s talking about reforms.

“Beyond the incentives that our implementing agencies are going to get, the health sector in particular is going to benefit from the reforms that the programme is going to achieve.”

According him, the visit was part of efforts aimed at implementing agencies to strengthen coordination and provide the support required to achieve the Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs).

“This is something we usually do for all our implementing agencies. It means the people that we are responsible for in terms of the Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs) and the Disbursement-Linked Results (DLRs).

“Specifically, the states, BHCPF Ministerial Oversight Committee Secretariat, as well as the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) at the federal level. From time to time, we engage so that we provide implementation support, coordination as well as support to ensure that our implementing agencies are able to achieve their results.

“It is the wish and the vision of the NPCU that all our implementing agencies get to achieve all the incentives that are required,” a statement issued by the Communications Officer, HOPE-GOV Programme, Joe Mutah, quoted him as saying.

Hassan added that the first coordination meeting with State HOPE-GOV Focal Persons will hold Monday in order to bolster the implementation of the programme, and alignment across participating states.

The programme, he explained, is currently evaluating the engagement of independent verification agents to assess the performance of implementing agencies for the first year of reform implementation, towards disbursement of incentives.

In his presentation on the occasion, the HOPE-GOV Programme Officer, Mr. Jamil Abdallah, said the programme is a $500 million package that would be disbursed to the implementing agencies upon achieving the Disbursement-Linked results.

“For the HOPE-Governance, as we are all aware, it’s a Programme for Results (PforR), where $500 million is actually earmarked for the programme whereby $480 million is for the PforR that is going to implementing agencies and states, and the remaining $20 million is for Investment Project Financing, which is going to be used for programme coordination, fiduciary management, capacity building, which is the technical assistance as well as verification of results and monitoring and evaluation,” he said.

Abdallah itemised the result areas to qualify for the disbursement as: Increased availability and effectiveness of financing for basic education and primary healthcare service delivery; enhanced transparency and accountability for basic education and primary healthcare financing and improved recruitment, deployment and performance management of basic education teachers and primary health care workers by federal, state and local governments.

The programme officer also emphasised that International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS)–compliant annual audited financial statements of implementing agencies – covering sources and uses of funds (or receipts and payments), appropriations for the year under review, actual expenditures and balances against appropriations, comparative actual expenditures for the preceding year, and all required disclosure notes under the applicable financial reporting framework – must be published on their official websites within the prescribed timeframes.

He stated that all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have signed on to participate in the programme.

In her remarks, the Acting Secretary of the BHCPF secretariat, Dr. Aishatu Abubakar Bajoga, pledged to work together with the HOPE-GOV Programme to achieve the objectives set out for them.

A major highlight of the visit was an interactive session between members of the HOPE-GOV National Project Coordinating Unit (NPCU) and the BHCPF, led by its outgoing Secretary, Dr. Ogbe Oritseweyimi, aimed at comparing notes on strategies for achieving the Fund’s DLIs.