States (ECOWAS) Economic Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), and in the restoration of democratic rule in Togo, São Tomé and Príncipe after the unconstitutional takeover of governments in these countries. Nigeria has also been involved in the ongoing negotiations in Sudan as part of the efforts to resolve the crisis in the Darfur region. Thus, Nigeria has shown deep concern for her African brothers and sisters and a readiness to lead and make sacrifices to resolve international conflicts. ii. Findings of the CRM Intrastate conflicts 82 184. Social and political life in Nigeria is often shaped by a complex mix of ethnic, religious and geographic considerations, and attempts by the state to manage the country’s diverse tapestry have not always been successful. The relations between Nigeria’s numerous ethnic groups can be categorised as largely exhibiting animosity fanned mainly by illicit and divisive politics. Since the agendas and sociopolitical aspirations of the various ethnic identities in Nigeria are not only different but also sharply antagonistic, there is little evidence of a collectivising ethos that freely binds the people of Nigeria together. 185. Throughout public consultations at the national and state levels, the majority of stakeholders confirmed the structural and immediate causes of intrastate conflicts, as eloquently elaborated upon in the CSAR. As political practice became increasingly exclusionary and repressive, separatist and identitarian tussles and agitations arose among Nigeria’s constituent ethnic groups. One of the important consequences of Nigeria’s ethnic and exclusionary politics is the spectre of political instability. Invariably, stakeholders confirmed the CSAR observations that ethnoreligious and regional diversities have been manipulated politically by elites to serve their own selfish interests. The causes of conflict in Nigeria, according stakeholders, could be summarised in three key words: injustice, inequity and unfairness. 186. According to stakeholders, the fundamental causes of conflicts in Nigeria are related to the pervasive social inequalities and to elite political manipulation for control of power and oil resources. Several communal conflicts have been exacerbated as oil increased incentives for patronage and conflict. Societal cleavages have, in turn, made it difficult to create institutions empowered to mitigate or manage these conflicts and have created a system that maintains and feeds on extreme poverty and elite manipulation. This dynamic seems to suggest that nothing short of an institutional and structural transformation can reduce and manage conflict in Nigeria in a sustainable manner. 187. In state after state, stakeholders lamented that the federal structure is unable to reduce inequalities among diverse populations by fostering an equitable distribution of public resources and goods to all citizens. The duality of citizenship based on ethnicity or indigeneship at the state and local levels versus civic citizenship at the national level is a major source