Litigants in Akwete, the headquarters of Ukwa East Local Council of Abia State have decried the absence of a presiding magistrate in the magistrate court in the area, stressing that this has impeded prompt dispensation of matters pending in the court.

LAGOS — The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, yesterday, warned airlines and pilots to ensure they get adequate weather information on departure, en route and destination from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, before embarking on flight operations.

THE stage is once again set as organizers of the prestigious Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards,AMVCAs, conclude plans to announce this evening the nominees of 2016 edition of the awards ceremony.

ABUJA — In the midst of hardship facing Nigerians, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said that Nigerians will not forgive the present government if nothing was done to ameliorate their living standard.

Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung has ordered that all the outstanding allowances of the Olympic Eagles be paid. The team has been running empty at the CAF U-23 African Cup of Nations in Senegal.

LAGOS—A 36-year-old mechanic, Bolaji Ojo, was yesterday arraigned in a Badagry Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly stealing three gallons of motor engine oil valued at N10, 500.

Lagos—There was mild drama yesterday at the Agboyi/Ketu Customary Court when a respondent, Mr. Bayo Bankole, broke down in tears, begging his estranged wife, Ejiro Bankole, in the open court not to break their five- year-old marriage.

The power, impact and influence of China was evident last Friday in Johannesburg when it met over 40 African leaders. It is instructive that a single country which in the 1980s was still considered a Third World country, could convene what was virtually a meeting of the African Union, AU, and so many Heads of State attended. This was no gathering of some old colonial master holding a Francophone summit with its former subjects, or some illusory ‘commonwealth’ of an ex-slave master giving his former servants the opportunity to take tea and have a handshake. Nor was it some summit of international lenders or do-gooders dishing out interest loans with slavish instructions and conditionalities. Rather, it was a gathering of people with shared colonial memories of forced occupation, exploitation and underdevelopment. A people with a common past whose gathering exuded self- respect and dignity for all, and a shared vision of a non-exploitative world.

Nigeria will battle Algeria for the 2015 U23 AFCON crown tomorrow after both teams qualified for the final.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s speeches both at the United Nations summit in Paris on climate change; and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta, dwelt much on the causes of violent crimes and terrorism, which are major problems confronting Nigeria.

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, yesterday, presented to the state House of Assembly an appropriation bill of N101, 154, 646.000 for the 2016 fiscal year.

GOVERNORSHIP Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the April 11 election in Ebonyi State, Chief Edward Nkwegu’s appeal against the judgment of the election petition tribunal, which upheld the election of Governor David Umahi of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will be decided today.

It was neither a vacation trip nor a tour for seasonal ceremony. It was a journey to attend a crisis communication seminar for humanitarian workers and journalists covering disasters which was held in Maiduguri in the first week of December 2015. My family members could not dissuade me from the trip that hopefully would provide me another opportunity to assess one of the Boko Haram worst-hit cities in Nigeria.

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives yesterday, asked the Federal Government to provide rehabilitation points and welfare centres for physically challenged persons and critically ill persons.

Two minutes noodles