policies, programmes, proposals, achievements and failures of the federal, state and local governments. Allowance for public participation in the decision-making processes at federal, state and local levels would be a source of satisfaction and reassurance to the people, who would then feel that their concerns were being heard. 293. Consultations with state and nonstate stakeholders throughout the states revealed that many CSOs, especially at the rural grass-roots level, feel marginalised and are not participating in the policy-making process because of lack of capacity and funding constraints. There appears to be a distinction between elite, urban-based CSOs (which have the resources and means to articulate their interests and advocate changes at national level) on the one hand and, on the other, rural-based CBOs that often lack the capacity to participate effectively in decision-making processes at local levels because of capacity constraints. 294. The CRM also noted that one of the major problems for the ongoing civil service reform and restructuring processes is the very poor remuneration package received by civil servants. Civil servants are among the most disadvantaged and depressed wage earners in Nigeria. The salaries and allowances of civil servants are very poor in relation to the rising cost of living and the amount required for reasonable subsistence. According to one survey, in mid-2000, senior-level officials were earning less than US$200. Also, the gap in salaries between the public and private sector is 300 per cent to 500 per cent. Even within the public sector, the salaries of civil servants are very low. For example, the least-paid staff members of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) earn more than a Grade Level 13 officer in the civil service. Also, the pay package of a director in the civil service is only about 20 per cent that of his or her equivalent in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Regulating the civil/public service 295. Regarding the exercise of disciplinary control over civil/public servants, although there are disciplinary regulations, rules and procedures for the FCSC to enforce discipline within the federal civil service, the federal government has often shown itself to be quite ready to summarily and unilaterally dismiss public civil servants as it pleases, in contravention of the 1999 constitution. For instance, it is alleged that when the auditor general submitted a damning report in February 2003 alleging government financial abuses, the president of the day summarily sacked him without consultation and/or approval of either the FCSC or the Senate, as required by the 1999 constitution. 296. The constitutional powers of the FCSC and the Senate appear to have been usurped and even nullified by such unilateral measures on the part of the presidency. Moreover, the interference of the federal government in matters of the federal civil service has often in the past become the norm rather than the exception. Numerous state governors are alleged to have been removed by impeachment during the previous administration. In certain cases, this has resulted in ethnoreligious tensions and conflicts. 109