Proxy contests: Prospects and challenges for corporate governance in Nigeria

The legal authority for management and direction of a company rests with the board of directors, whose duty it is to supervise the general course of business, and to use its powers in the best interests of the company. However, ultimate power resides in the shareholders as the board is brought into managerial office by them via elections in annual general meetings. Yet, whenever the shareholders are dissatisfied with the manner the board of directors is conducting and managing the affairs of the company, such management can be ousted through voting it out during another election. By this, shareholders need no longer be content to sit on the sideline and watch as their shares in a company plummet; they are rather standing up and holding management accountable. This study seeks to explore the theory and practice of 'proxy contest', investigates its application in some other jurisdictions, and considers its prospects and challenges with a view to adopting the practice into Nigerian corporate governance.Keywords: Proxy contest, Corporate governance, Prospects, Challenges, Nigeri

Chagas Disease Risk in Texas

Chagas disease is endemic in Texas and spread through triatomine insect vectors known as kissing bugs, assassin bugs, or cone–nosed bugs, which transmit the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi. We examined the threat of Chagas disease due to the three most prevalent vector species and from human case occurrences and human population data at the county level. We modeled the distribution of each vector species using occurrence data from México and the United States and environmental variables. We then computed the ecological risk from the distribution models and combined it with disease incidence data to produce a composite risk map which was subsequently used to calculate the populations expected to be at risk for the disease. South Texas had the highest relative risk. We recommend mandatory reporting of Chagas disease in Texas, testing of blood donations in high risk counties, human and canine testing for Chagas disease antibodies in high risk counties, and that a joint initiative be developed between the United States and México to combat Chagas disease

Estimating Contact Process Saturation in Sylvatic Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States

Although it has been known for nearly a century that strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent for Chagas' disease, are enzootic in the southern U.S., much remains unknown about the dynamics of its transmission in the sylvatic cycles that maintain it, including the relative importance of different transmission routes. Mathematical models can fill in gaps where field and lab data are difficult to collect, but they need as inputs the values of certain key demographic and epidemiological quantities which parametrize the models. In particular, they determine whether saturation occurs in the contact processes that communicate the infection between the two populations. Concentrating on raccoons, opossums, and woodrats as hosts in Texas and the southeastern U.S., and the vectors Triatoma sanguisuga and Triatoma gerstaeckeri, we use an exhaustive literature review to derive estimates for fundamental parameters, and use simple mathematical models to illustrate a method for estimating infection rates indirectly based on prevalence data. Results are used to draw conclusions about saturation and which population density drives each of the two contact-based infection processes (stercorarian/bloodborne and oral). Analysis suggests that the vector feeding process associated with stercorarian transmission to hosts and bloodborne transmission to vectors is limited by the population density of vectors when dealing with woodrats, but by that of hosts when dealing with raccoons and opossums, while the predation of hosts on vectors which drives oral transmission to hosts is limited by the population density of hosts. Confidence in these conclusions is limited by a severe paucity of data underlying associated parameter estimates, but the approaches developed here can also be applied to the study of other vector-borne infections

Influence of Working Relationship between Principals and Teachers on Students Activities in Secondary Schools in Awgu Education Zone of Enugu State

This study investigated the Influence of Working Relationship between Principals and Teachers on Students Activities in Secondary Schools in Awgu Education Zone of Enugu State. Three research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 54 principals and 785 teachers in the public secondary schools in the zone. Purposive sampling technique was employed to draw 28 principals and 252 teachers from 28 non-proportionately selected schools in the zone. A structured questionnaire in three clusters (A-C) containing 25 items titled Principal and Teachers Working Relationship on Students Academic Performance Questionnaire (PTWRSAPQ) was used for data collection. Three experts in Administration and Planning, Department of Educational Foundations and 2 experts from Measurement and Evaluation Unit, Department of Science Education both from Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki validated the instrument. Cronbach alpha was used to test the reliability of the instrument and the whole 25 items returned a coefficient of 0.61. Data collected were analyzed using mean (X) and standard deviation (SD) to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed that the mean responses of principals and teachers on the influence of their working relationship on students’ performance in classroom activities was no significant, the mean responses of principals and teachers based on location on the influence of their working relationship on students’ performance in external examinations was not significantly different, and the mean responses of the principals and teachers based on gender on the influence of their working relationship on students’ performance in internal examinations was not significantly different. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that the principals should adopt leadership styles that will foster good working relationship between them and the teachers so that the objectives of the school can be meaningfully achieved. Secondly, workshops/seminars should be organized by the government to sensitize the principals and other staff of the schools on the importance of working as team in the actualization of the goals and objectives of secondary school education. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-36-08 Publication date: December 31st 202