Assenting the bill in his office on Monday, Governor Otti thanked the House of Assembly for the speedy passage and the efforts of his Wife, Mrs Priscilla Chidinma Otti and other officials of government towards realising the bill.
“I want to thank the House of Assembly for giving this bill an expedited hearing and for passing it in record time. I would like to also salute Her Excellency for championing this bill.
“And, I want to thank the honourable commissioners in charge of Women Affairs, and the one in charge of Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, and members of the team for putting together this bill,” Gov. Otti stated.
The Governor, who said that he believes that the State would get to a point where it would start closing the rehabilitation centres, noted that the real issue is about reorientation of the people.
“I want to reiterate what I said on the 18th of February, 2026, when we commissioned the centre in Aba, – Sexual Assault Referral Centre,
“As I said on that day, that while we were going to set up a few more centres, it is my conviction, and I believe that we’ll get there, where we start closing them, because there is no need for that. And the real issue is about reorientation,” Gov. Otti stated.
The Governor noted that, rape, child abuse, molestation, and all those kinds of things are not part of the culture of an Igbo man.
“I had underscored at that point that this is not part of our culture; rape, child abuse, molestation, and all those kinds of things, child trafficking, human trafficking.
“Growing up here, it was strange, and these were offences that were outlawed and anyone that commits it was ostracised from the society and confined to the evil forests,” Gov. Otti stated.
The State Chief Executive noted that his government has been intentional in engaging the people and creating employment to ensure that the youths have something to do as idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
“So, some of the things we are doing to keep our people productively engaged, we do that because we understand that If they are not engaged, they will be otherwise engaged.
“And so, it is our responsibility to ensure that jobs are created, to ensure that people are busy doing things that are productive,” Gov. Otti stated.
Presenting the bill for assent, the Speaker, Abia House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa said that the bill deals with the rehabilitation of victims of rape and other gender based violence.
“We have gone through the necessary process that will bring it to this table for assent.
“But importantly, this bill deals with the rehabilitation of victims of rape and other violence.
“And this is why this bill received very speedy passage. So, I am very proud to be associated with the passage, so that something very positive will be started in our State,” Rt. Emeruwa stated.
He urged the Governor to make the law functional, so that victims of such circumstances would be rehabilitated.
Reacting to the signing of the bill in an interview, the Wife of the Abia State Governor and initiator of the bill, Her Excellency, Mrs. Priscilla Otti said that the legal framework gives hope to girls and women, adding that justice would be speedier for them.
The highly elated wife of the Governor thanked the Governor and all those that contributed to achieving the passage of the bill.
“I am very elated for this coming to fruition. This bill gives hope to our women and girls, a hope that not only would they get support, that they would also be rehabilitated and given the support they need to move forward as normal citizens.
“I am really grateful to everyone that made this possible today, especially the house member, Hon. Chinwendu Roland who sponsored the bill and to the House of Assembly in general that gave this bill speedy hearing and of course to His Excellency, who is a gender loving Governor for always supporting in the fight against Gender-based violence and other crimes against women,” Mrs. Otti stated.
