ABIA FIRST LADY, CCD EXCITED BY PASSAGE OF DISABILITY LAW

 Nkechi Ikpeazu, the first lady of Abia State, and David Obinna Anyaele, the executive director of the Center for Citizens with Disabilities, have praised the Abia State House of Assembly for approving the Disability Law on Wednesday. The House of Assembly is "in fact populated by legislators who are working for the people and having the best interest of Abians at heart," according to Ikpeazu, the founder of the Vicar Hope Foundation. In a statement issued by her chief press secretary, Chika Ojiegbe, Mrs. Ikpeazu thanked the bill's sponsors, Hon. Paul Taribo and Mr. David Anyaele of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, as well as residents of Abia who are disabled, for their contributions to ensuring the bill's passage. "I am confident that the Disability Law will likewise yield enormous benefits for Abian citizens, particularly for our family members who have disabilities," she said. They will receive better care, have better access to welfare, and experience greater political inclusion. "There is another timely bill before the House that I am supporting, the Obnoxious Widowhood Practices Prohibition Bill, and I am certain that it will be passed into law shortly by the diligent and forward-thinking House led by Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji.

"Mrs. Ikpeazu is no stranger to legislative engagements," the statement continued. She may be the only First Lady in the nation to have had the honor of speaking to members during a House Plenary on the parliamentary floor. She is currently in charge of efforts to examine 2006-era State Child Rights Law provisions that are no longer relevant. Mr. David Anyaele, Executive Director of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, also expressed his excitement, saying, "I welcomed with joy the news of the passage of the Abia State Disability Bill by Rt. Hon. Chinedu Orji-led House of Assembly today. The Abia State House of Assembly has demonstrated forcefully via the passing of this bill that all lives are valuable, including those of Abians with disabilities. He claims that because Abia State lacks a legal framework for the protection of the rights and dignity, people with disabilities there are the most excluded from governance at the state level in Nigeria. "This would be opportune, especially in light of the recent incident in which a widow in Abia was subjected to repeated abuse by her community," she said. The exclusion of Abians with impairments from governance by State and non-State entities would cease with the passage of this bill, he declared. He requested that JohnPedro Irokansi, the Clerk of the Abia State House of Assembly, "quickly clean up the bill for onward transmission to the State Governor for his assent," and he advised Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to sign the bill into law without holding back because his wife had put in so much effort to get it passed.

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