The Effects of Audit Committee and Ownership Structure on Income Smoothening In Nigeria: A Study of Listed Banks

In recent times, financial statements which are known to show the economic state of an enterprise has lost its credibility and this has affected major companies especially banks in our economy today . In Nigeria, the economy faltered and the banking system experienced a crisis in 2009. The stock market collapsed by 70% in 2008-2009 and many Nigerian banks had to be rescued. This therefore brings about the question why income smoothening if there exists good corporate governance in the sector. This study examined if corporate governance proxies         (Audit committee and ownership structure) influences the level of income smoothening among Nigerian Banks. To show this, the study employed the use of financial statements to gather relevant information needed for the analysis and was analyzed with the use of a regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The study therefore revealed that both independent variables influence the level of income smoothening, although not significant with audit committee. The study therefore recommends that there should be a fixed percentage of ownership for the directors. Also the Central Bank of Nigeria should de-emphasize the arbitrary application of codes and standards by banks and focus on introducing the use of penalties and/or enforcing existing ones more strictly. It is only when codes and standards have the capacity to serve as deterrents that they would become effective or increases their effectiveness. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Income Smoothening, Banks and Nigeri

The role of Egypt in the U.S. : Soviet superpower rivalry, 1945-1981

vii, 228 leaves ; 28 cm.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The initial U.S. involvement in Egypt stemmed from the concern that the loss of Britain's power in the Middle East may lead to Soviet aggrandizement in the Middle East. In the policy of containment, Egypt featured prominently in the U.S. strategic calculations, even though Egyptian acquiescence was not gained in the early days of U.S.-Soviet rivalry. The Soviet Union provided support to the nationalist government of Egypt to act as the bulwark against U.S. and western plans which were designed to contain Soviet expansion. Egypt's active opposition to U.S. and western strategic calculations helped to neutralize anti-Soviet containment policy. Symbolic as the rivalry may be in such regions as Sub-Saharan Africa, the importance of Egypt to the superpowers, relative to its geo-strategic location, provides cogent reasons for competition in that country. Egypt began to feature prominently in the geo-strategic calculations of the superpowers in the hey day of the cold war rivalry. The superpowers' involvement in Egypt revolved around the indispensability of oil economic and industrial growth and around strategic calculations, which Egypt dominates in the Arab/Mediterranean, North African/Middle East area. (Abstract shortened by UMI.

Clinical assessment of the efficacy and safety of T-Angelica Herbal Tonic, a herbal beverage

The safety, efficacy, and acceptability of T-Angelica Herbal Tonic (THAT), a phytomedicinal beverage was studied over a period of one week in ten healthy volunteers for regulatory purposes. The study started after an overnight fast with each subject drinking 150ml of the beverage every night and every morning for a period of one week. Urine, stool and blood samples from each subject were examined in the laboratory on days 1, 4 and 7, in addition to daily documentation of observations made of each subject. On day 7 each subject independently scored the beverage for its acceptability, and desirability to him/her on a scale of 1-10 (in ascending order of magnitude). Data analysis was carried out using GraphPad prism computer software. The beverage exerted a tolerable laxative effect, and all subjects considered it acceptable. Further larger studies are indicated to elucidate the cost-effectiveness of the use of this herbal beverage and its long-term safety.Keywords: Laxative, Herbal tonic, herbal beverage, phytomedicine, safety, efficacy