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This Flagship report analyses 20 years of governance programmes in Nigeria funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the North-western states of Jigawa (since 2001), Kano (since 2005) and Kaduna (since 2006), as well as the North-eastern state of Yobe (since 2011). The report’s main research question is whether, how, under what conditions and for whom UK-funded state-level governance programmes in Nigeria have contributed to sustained changes in governance, and related changes in health and education. ... The report concludes with the following recommendations: To international development partners: 1. Invest for the long term – 10 to 20 years – combining support for both state and nonstate actors. 2. Ensure programmes have the strategic-level mandate, managerial capacity and frontline staff skills to pursue politically savvy opportunities. 3. Take PEA to the next level by unpacking causal mechanisms, understanding incentives and designing interventions to make change happen. 4. Give governance programmes the ability to flex between core governance and service delivery issues. 5. Incentivise greater collaboration between governance and sector programmes. 6. Incentivise greater attention to gender, and to social inclusion beyond disability issues, in governance programming. To FCDO: 7. Empower and resource FCDO teams to enable TWP programmes, ensuring decision-making by country teams to respond to local priorities. 8. Re-imagine TWP for FCDO Nigeria, giving implementers the space to operate in TWP ways. 9. Incentivise stronger collaboration between PERL, Lafiya (health programme) and the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigerian Education. 10. Invest in impact data analysis. To partner governments in Nigeria and beyond: 11. Explicitly set out the objectives for which you would like to receive assistance. 12. Use TWP principles to decide how development partners can support your political objectives and the scope for politically-feasible and mutually-beneficial collaboration. 13. Invest in the coordination of development partners. To non-state partners in Nigeria and beyond: 14. Join coalitions to achieve your priorities. 15. Select development partners which can strengthen your skills, not just fund your activities.