The World Bank–assisted Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity–Governance programme is working with state governments to ensure quarterly publication of contract award information in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors. The programme’s national coordinator, Assad Hassan, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Hassan spoke at the first Implementation Support Meeting of 2026, held virtually, with state HOPE-GOV focal persons. He said that the contract award information must be published on state government websites within 30 days after the end of each quarter.

Mr Hassan said this was to enable independent verification agents to verify as a condition for disbursing incentive funds to the states.

According to him, the minimum information to be disclosed includes the project name, awarding institution, award date, contractor’s name, and contract amount.

“For MDAs without e-procurement, the Independent Verification Agents will obtain schedules of all contracts awarded above the threshold.

“They will also confirm whether disclosures on state official websites comply with the Open Contracting Data Standard,” Mr Hassan said.

He said that for MDAs with e-procurement systems, the IVAs would confirm the existence of online procurement portals.

Mr Hassan said that it would also verify that procurement data published after the system’s go-live date complied with the Open Contracting Data Standard.

The national coordinator said that states were required to publish their 2026 citizens’ budgets for basic education and primary healthcare by February 28. According to him, the citizens’ budgets must contain details of revenue sources, grants and loans, total expenditure by function and programme.

Mr Hassan said that the citizens’ budget must also include budget deficit and financing, sectoral expenditure breakdowns, and lists of major capital projects and their locations.

He said that states must publish financial and performance audit reports for basic education and primary healthcare submitted to state assemblies.

He said that states were also required to complete biometric capture and Bank Verification Number data of at least 80 per cent of basic education and primary healthcare workers, and link them to payrolls to eliminate ghost workers.

According to him, the HOPE-GOV programme is engaging states to strengthen institutional arrangements to ensure effective implementation and optimal results.

About 100 participants from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory attended the virtual meeting.

(NAN)