The Federal Government and the World Bank have restructured the $500m HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, reducing funding allocations tied to classroom construction while expanding the number of states eligible for targeted interventions.
Details of the restructuring were contained in a World Bank document dated May 20, 2026, obtained from the bank’s website on Thursday.
According to the report, the restructuring followed a major reduction in Nigeria’s System Transformation Grant allocation from the Global Partnership for Education.
The World Bank stated that Nigeria’s GPE funding allocation was reduced from $107.59m to $53.975m, leading to significant adjustments in programme financing and implementation priorities.
“These changes stem from a reduction in the total allocation for Nigeria’s GPE STG funding from $107.59m to $53.975m,” the report stated.
The bank explained that the original financing arrangement involved the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund jointly managing the grant allocation. However, under the revised structure, the entire reduced grant allocation will now be managed through the World Bank-led HOPE-Education programme.
“Originally, co-grant agents, the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund, were selected to each manage half of the initial STG funding allocation,” the report noted. “However, with the reduced GPE financing, the Government of Nigeria proposed that the reduced allocation be managed entirely by the World Bank through HOPE-Education.”
The HOPE-Education programme was approved by the World Bank Board on March 31, 2025. It is funded through a $500m International Development Association credit and a $52.18m GPE grant.
The restructuring document revealed that funding under Disbursement-Linked Indicator 4, which focuses on the creation of 13,000 new primary school classrooms through community participation, was significantly reduced.
The allocation under the category dropped from $5.7m to $2.55m.
Specifically, allocations for government-community agreements supporting classroom construction in 15 states were reduced from $500,000 to $300,000, while funding for the actual construction of the 13,000 classrooms declined from $5.2m to $2.25m.
Despite the reduced allocations, the overall target of constructing 13,000 classrooms remains unchanged under the revised framework.
The World Bank stated that there would be no changes to the programme’s development objectives, implementation timeline, or institutional arrangements.
“There are no changes to the Program Development Objective, closing date, or institutional arrangements. This is the first restructuring of the operation,” the report added.
Under the revised structure, the number of states eligible for interventions under Results Area 1 increased from three to six, with Abia, Bauchi, and Kwara added to the list.
The updated GPE-supported states are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kebbi, Kwara, and Lagos.
The restructuring also adjusted funding allocations across several programme indicators, including teaching materials, teacher mentoring, literacy assessments, school grants, and annual school census reporting.
Under DLI 1, which focuses on improving the availability of teaching and learning materials, new allocations were introduced for GPE-supported states.
A total of $7.419m was allocated to ensure that 80 per cent of public primary schools in participating states have adequate learning materials for Grades 1 to 3, while another $3.569m was earmarked for Grades 4 to 6.
Funding under DLI 2, which targets structured teaching practices among teachers, was reduced from $14.866m to $12.664m following adjustments to some performance indicators.
Similarly, allocations under DLI 3, which focuses on literacy and numeracy proficiency, dropped from $7.934m to $5.06m after the removal of a $3.9m allocation linked to improving literacy and numeracy outcomes in IDA-supported states.
Funding linked to reducing out-of-school children under DLI 5 also declined from $1.733m to $1.283m.
However, allocations for annual school grants under DLI 7 increased significantly from $4.73m to $7.865m, while annual school census reporting under DLI 8 rose from $4.45m to $5.676m.
The World Bank noted that the revised arrangement would require changes to verification procedures for GPE-supported states, while the existing verification process for IDA-financed states would remain in place.
According to the report, the HOPE-Education programme aims to improve foundational learning outcomes, expand access to basic education, and strengthen education systems in participating states.
The programme became effective on February 26, 2026, and the World Bank said implementation was already showing early signs of progress.
