Developing an Effective Strategy for the Enforcement of the Constitutional Mandate of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions

The Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions (ECCPP) is one of the committees of the Senate of Nigeria’s National Assembly. The Committee was one of the earliest Special committees established under Order XIII of the Senate Standing Orders 2015, as amended (SSO 2015). It is one of the committees through which the Senate conducts legislative investigations in fulfilment of its constitutional and statutory role under section 88 of the 1999 Constitution, as altered. The major challenge of the ECCPP Committee in the exercise of its investigation power is the refusal by some chief executives of government agencies and corporate organisations to honour its invitation. This study finds that among the reasons for this are the absence of ethical prescriptions in the SSO 2015 to guide the conduct of honourable members against unethical conduct that undermine their integrity, and absence of prescribed fine for failure to honour the Committee’s summons. To strengthen the enforcement capacity of the Committee, the study recommends, among others, that members of the Committee eschew unethical tendencies that undermine their integrity and conduct the business of the Committee in a manner that avoids conflicts of interest or its appearances.

Sistem Pengurusan Kualiti Berteraskan Syariah MS 1900: Pelaksanaan di Mahkamah Syariah Negeri Melaka (Shariah-based Quality Management System MS 1900: An Implementation at Melaka State Syariah Court)

This article focuses on the implementation of Shariah-based Quality Management System (QMS) MS 1900 in Melaka State Syariah Court (MSSC) which is one of the earliest Syariah Courts being certified with the MS 1900 QMS. This study was conducted with a case study strategy that uses a semi-structured interview technique involving 11 informants consisting of top management and the committee members at MSSC. Findings of this study were discovered by employing thematic analysis techniques with the help of Atlas.ti software 8. The findings indicated that there were 13 steps in the implementation of MS 1900 MSSC that is start work on ISO 9000, top management leadership, visits to benchmark institutions, the establishment of special committees, resource management, documentation, procurement and supply, Management Review Meeting (MRM), continuous improvement, internal audit, external audit and services at MSSC. The findings of this study can help other institutions to get guidance to start MS 1900 implementation of pending successfully certified by SIRIM. .

‘The Waste of Daylight’: Rhythmicity, Workers’ Health and Britain’s Edwardian Daylight Saving Time Bills

Summary This article explores an interesting episode in the history of time, health, and modernity: Britain’s 1908 and 1909 Daylight Saving Time (DST) Bills. While the original DST scheme was unsuccessful, the discussions surrounding its implementation reveal tensions central to early twentieth century modernity, namely between industrial time and ‘natural’ bodily rhythms. This article argues that DST was essentially a public health measure aimed at improving the conditions of indoor workers like shop girls and clerks through government regulation of the private time of the labouring classes. Drawing on the extensive evidence provided to two House of Commons Special Committees, this article reveals how DST debates drew together contemporary discussions around sunlight therapy, night work, and the importance of regular sleeping and eating to tackle Britain's endemic urban diseases like consumption and anaemia. I suggest that the idea of bodily rhythms was increasingly important in medical thinking in this period and that the study of rhythmicity points to the potential for incorporating temporality as an analytical category in medical history.

Politics, Political Parties and the Party System in Nigeria: Who's Interest?

Party system and the administration of political parties are critical factors in determining the direction of politics and democracy. Three political parties contested at the inception of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in 1999, but the number increased to more than 91 as at 2019. This paper raises fundamental questions as to whose interest – public or private interest of promoters and financiers - these parties serve, and whether the increase in the number of political parties has significantly entrenched democratic values in the country? These questions are compelling because of several events in political party operations in the 20 years of the Fourth Republic. These include controversial and vexatious party primaries preceding every major election, often leading to protracted and distractive litigations and rampant political defections. Unregulated use of money has, in particular, restrained ample participation by women and youths, while violence is almost becoming a norm and permanent characteristic of the electoral and political system. The paper draws data from secondary documentary sources for its conceptual and theoretical contents. Primary data are generated from events analyses by the authors as observers at party conventions and other meetings for the selection of candidates for political offices as well as during general elections. This is complimented by content analyses of relevant documents including electoral laws, court and law reports, and reports by special committees such as the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC). A combination of the ecological approach and conspiratorial theory is deployed for the paper’s analytic frame.

Pediatric Anesthesia Specialty Societies and Multi-Institutional Collaborations

Pediatric anesthesiology is a subspecialty of anesthesiology that deals with the high-risk pediatric population. The specialty has made significant advancement in large collaborative efforts to study and increase patient safety, including the creation of international societies, a dedicated journal, special committees and interest groups, and multi-institution databases for research and quality improvement. Readily available resources were created to help with the education of future pediatric anesthesiologists as well as continuing medical education. Conclusions: Specialty societies and collaborations in pediatric anesthesia are crucial for continuous improvement in the care of children. They promote research, education, quality improvement, and advocacy at the local, national, and international level.

Incentive and Supervisory Contract between Special Committees and CEO Based on the Evolutionary Game Model

The process of CEO incentive and supervision, in which the special committee plays an important role, has always been a hard problem to solve in modern corporate governance. Considering the conflicts of interest between the compensation committee, audit committee, and the CEO, this paper constructed a game model of incentive and supervision within the board of directors and analysed the strategic choices of all three and the influencing mechanisms in different contexts. The results show that there is no totally stable strategy point in the system and that there are different strategy choices in different situations; the CEO’s strategy choice is influenced by both the compensation committee and the audit committee, the incentive strategy of the compensation committee will promote the CEO’s self-interested behaviour, and the supervision strategy of the audit committee is inhibitive. The function of the special committee is dependent on its initial intention and the intensity of action. In the situation of excessive incentive by the compensation committee, the strategy choice of audit committee has periodicity, and the CEO and audit committee have periodic discretionary choice game. This study provides insight into the internal governance of the board of directors, particularly special committees, which create the incentive and supervisory contracts.

Scrutinising COVID-19 laws: An early glimpse into the scrutiny work of federal parliamentary committees

Australia’s parliamentary model of rights protection depends in large part on the capacity of the federal Parliament to scrutinise the law-making activities of the Executive government. Emergency law-making undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the Australian Parliament’s capacity to provide meaningful scrutiny of proposed laws, particularly identifying and addressing the impact of emergency powers on the rights of individuals. In this context, the work of parliamentary committees has become increasingly important. Special committees, such as the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, have been set up to provide oversight and review of Australia’s response to the pandemic. This article gives an early glimpse into the key features of the COVID-19 Committee and the way it may interact with other committees within the federal system to scrutinise the government's legislative response to the pandemic. It also offers some preliminary thoughts on the capacity of these committees to deliver meaningful rights scrutiny.

The Sports Badge “Fit For Work and Defence” (“Sprawny do Pracy i Obrony” – SPO). The Characteristics and Principles of Earning It on the Example of Sports Associations in Rzeszów Voivodship in 1953

In 1950, using the Soviet GTO badge as a model, the SPO (BSPO) sports badge was introduced in Poland. It was the basis of the contemporary physical culture system and a factor of promoting mass sport. The badge was divided into 4 degrees and the following age categories were established: the kid degree BSPO with the division into two categories: 1) girls and boys aged 11 to 12, and 2) aged 13 to 14, as well as the youth degree BSPO with one age category: 15–16. SPO included degrees 1 and 2 and two age categories: 1) 17–35, 2) 36 and above. The regulations of earning the badge were prepared, special committees were appointed, and the whole process was supervised by the Main Committee of Physical Culture (Główny Komitet Kultury Fizycznej – GKKF). Political authorities attached a lot of importance to possessing that badge, and mass earning of the SPO badge was a priority for the contemporary sports authorities. Schools, universities, the army, People’s Sports Teams and sports associations were obliged to conduct tests for the required standards for the SPO badge. This paper tries to answer the following questions: What criteria had to be met to be awarded the SPO and BSPO badge? and: How many badges were achieved in sports associations in Rzeszów Voivodship in 1953?

Ustrój i działalność sądownictwa rosyjskiej floty wojennej w latach 1867–1914, część 2

In 1867, the reform of the judicial system of the Russian navy was carried out, which was modelled on the structural solutions adopted in the land army. It introduced three degrees of jurisdiction. The crew courts and the military naval courts looked into the cases in terms of their substantial contents, meanwhile the complaints and cassation protests against the sentences were submitted to the Main Military Naval Court. Court proceedings were held in a collegial, open and public manner. Defendants were guaranteed the right to defense and the court proceedings were based on the principles of equality of the parties and free assessment of evidence. The prosecutor’s offices appeared in the Main Military Naval Court and the military naval courts, fulfilling prosecution functions. The obligation to conduct investigations fell on investigating judges. During ship cruises and military campaigns there were vessel courts and special committees, ruling on the basis of procedures different from those in the land naval courts.