₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government is targeting a $500m loan from the World Bank to tackle inadequate human resource issues in the country’s education and healthcare systems.

The proposed loan, part of the Nigeria Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity Governance Programme, is intended to tackle long-standing staffing gaps and enhance the performance management of basic education teachers and primary healthcare workers.

According to the “Programme Information Document” for the appraisal stage of the Nigeria Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity Governance Programme, obtained by Sunday PUNCH on Friday, the international lender is expected to give its final approval for the loan on September 26, 2024, and it has the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health as the implementing agencies.

It showed the loan is to support strengthening financial and human resource management in the basic education and primary health care sectors

According to the document, the loan will focus on three major result areas, with the improvement of recruitment, deployment, and performance management of sector workers being a key component.

This effort is particularly important given Nigeria’s alarming human capital index, which indicates that a child born in the country will only achieve 36 per cent of their productive potential if current levels of health and education services persist.

The document reads, “Nigeria suffers from a shortage of qualified professionals, including teachers and health workers, when compared to the average for low- and middle-income countries. These are also highly unequal across regions/states. Frontline workers such as teachers and healthcare workers are technically employees of local governments, but states vary considerably in the extent to which they are managed at a central state level, creating blurred accountabilities.

“Moreover, human resource management suffers from a lack of planning, is often not properly costed and is not always based on merit and transparency. The deployment of these professionals is also suboptimal and not aligned to guarantee learning and basic health care for all. A 2015 service delivery study found that 14 per cent of teachers were absent from school, 19 per cent of those present were not teaching, and 32 per cent of health workers were absent from duty post.”

According to the document, one of the primary objectives of the loan is to incentivise improvements in workforce planning within the education and healthcare sectors.

It noted that the loan would provide the necessary financial resources to enhance the recruitment processes, ensuring that qualified professionals are adequately deployed where they are most needed.

The initiative will also address the significant disparities in staffing across Nigeria’s regions, a challenge that has long plagued both sectors.

In addition to workforce planning, the loan will support the adoption of new systems to improve payroll management and reduce fraud, including the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Bank Verification Numbering system and National Identity Numbers platforms.

It added, “The HOPE Programme is a series of three interdependent operations strategically positioned to address different challenges, but all geared towards helping achieve the same set of development outcomes

“HOPE-GOV covers a subset of actions from the government program and would run from 2024 to 2028. These actions will mostly be at the state level, but with a few at the federal level. The Program will support Nigeria in addressing underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government that constrain outcomes in basic education and primary healthcare service delivery.


“The focus will be on cross-sectoral issues, such as improved financial resource allocation, efficiency of resources, strengthened public financial management, fiscal transparency and accountability, and enhanced human resource management. In addition, an IPF component (US$20m) will finance the technical assistance component.”

A part of the PID noted that one of the expected results of the loan programme is improved recruitment, deployment, and performance management of basic education teachers and primary health workers.

The HOPE Governance Programme, under which this loan falls, is scheduled to run from 2024 to 2028, providing support for systemic reforms at both the state and federal levels, focusing on cross-sectoral issues such as financial resource allocation, public financial management, fiscal transparency, and accountability.

As part of the World Bank’s support, the loan will also incentivise the reduction of staffing gaps by 40 per cent, with a target that at least 30 per cent of recruits will be women.

The loan is part of a larger $2 billion government program that seeks to accelerate the provision of quality basic education and healthcare services across Nigeria.

Source: https://punchng.com/FG-eyes-$-500m-WBank-loan-to-boost-education-health-sectors

They just keep borrowing the future of the country and nothing to show for it.

World bank keeps dishing them loan they know they can't pay back so they can seize our national asset.

Clowns.
If you use $500m to improve manpower in education and health, how many billions of usd will you use to pay salaries seeing it is easier to recruit than to pay salaries every month?
Just tell us you are borrowing to pose as Giant of Africa, or how do we explain needing $500m to rectify staffing issues when every year those sectors get underfunded deliberately?
To make matters worse, we just finished stoning the devil with about $150m (FG and states) yet need such amount to staff two sectors we all know govt dont care about.

Loan upon loan

Use this to solve inflation and not spend it wisely.

Imagine having a father who borrows loan to pay ur school but ended up using it to drink and carry olosho, still he'll come back to tell u he's the best dad in the world...Those still supporting Tinubu are either mad or ment...e no pass these two

Borrowing borrowing and more borrowing. We are in serious trouble.

Netizen11:
Loan upon loan

loan United should be our nickname.

Or Giant of Loanfrica.

Worst part is, when the $500 Milla gets approved. Central Bank will remove charges like $5 Milla. The directors in charge will triple their salary, by the time the project for loan gan gan go start, na like $320 Milla go remain.

They should nose it instead

If una collect that money, make una give me N100k out of the money

Topic

Tinubu eyes more loans to boost his and Akpabio's loot

Una wan go collect loan again?

C h a i..










Nigeria is really submerged in series and parallels of lOans,,

...imagine how loan sharks behave,,

Can They Just Stop Borrowing At This Point?

Chinjo2:
Una wan go collect loan again?

How will Tinubu loot

Don't worry, His supporters and their unborn generation will pay

We will sell them off to China and IMF/world bank one after the other

Loan to boost their pockets

FG eyes more money to steal in the name of sponsoring education

Nigeria has been sold out

Na WA o,all the loans dem dey borrow before,wetin dem use am do.

is world bank m*d.

where are they seeing this money to give nigeria. this is crazy.

adenigga:
Source: https://punchng.com/FG-eyes-$-500m-WBank-loan-to-boost-education-health-sectors

We need to boos power sector ohhhhhhhhhh

Can this foreigners please stop giving Nigeria Government loans

Nigerians should carry next protest to the house of these greedy and evil politicians . burn their cars and house . if possible beat them to death

As dey take seize your aircraft for france is the same way them go take seize you or seyi for all these loans una dey collect up n down

If subsidy was truly and genuinely removed, what is the essence of all this slavery loans?


Who will now repay all these loans?

All loans should come with application plans. Released per milestone

Well…West knows that Nigeria as a country is done…let just keep giving them loans until we paralyze them…

Anyone you are indebted to you own
…West is all about their interest…

This reckless borrowing is just sickening…

A country that budgeted billions in an Olympic Games only for Olympians to get no support…

Another loan again? I must not born my children in this country. No be dem go pay these loans