of these standards and codes appears to be limited to the elite and to decision makers. 3.61 Nigeria’s National Gender Policy aims to integrate women fully into all areas of life through the principle of equality. However, minimal progress has been made towards promoting the gender equality that might have been expected from Nigeria’s ratification of CEDAW in 1985. There has been some affirmative action to increase the proportion of women holding office in the federal government and to increase the proportion of girls in schools. However, gender gaps still remain unacceptably high in both cases. One major reason for this is that the National Gender Policy has failed to achieve its main and preliminary goal of incorporating CEDAW into federal and state laws. Other obstacles to the policy are deeply embedded cultural and religious beliefs and practices. On a positive note, there are a number of small CSOs that are implementing programmes in areas like FGM, vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) and early marriages. They are also providing support for widows and schooling for girls. 3.62 Participatory measures have been reintroduced into Nigeria since the return to a democratic dispensation in 1999. However, much of the participation in budgeting and development planning has tended to be at the level of the elite. This has created a strong public perception that government’s allocation of public funds lacks transparency. It appears to be unduly influenced by factors like ‘godfatherhood’, corruption and political influence. Also, the broad-based participation envisaged in NEEDS has not been sufficiently realised at the state and local levels of SEEDS and LEEDS. Overall, inadequate stakeholder participation in the development process is a serious and fundamental limitation to democratic governance in Nigeria. 4. GOOD AND BEST PRACTICES Democracy and good political governance • Nigeria’s role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, particularly in the West African subregion. Nigeria has shown strong and committed leadership in the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), and has been active in resolving conflicts in countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, to name but a few. Nigeria’s strong and committed leadership in this regard has been strengthened by supplying the necessary military personnel and other logistical assistance. • The Council of the State is an innovative structure. It offers a forum to provide nonpartisan advice to the chief executive of the federation on sensitive and divisive issues like conflicts, the distribution of national wealth, and state aspirations against federal hegemony. A key feature of the Council of the State is its broad-based composition. It incorporates the elite leadership of Nigeria and includes, inter alia, all former presidents, chief justices, Senate presidents, speakers of the House of Representatives, governors and attorney generals. This makes its decisions generally credible and acceptable to the people. 17