Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, on Monday signed 18 executive bills into law, bringing the total number of executive bills passed by the state House of Assembly to 30.

Speaking on the outcome of the week’s expanded executive council meeting chaired by the governor, the state Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, said, “It is record-breaking, going by standards set by previous administrations within and even outside the state.”

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ikechukwu Uwannah, elaborated on the significance of the joint session, which brought together commissioners, Special Advisers (SAs), Senior Special Assistants (SSAs), government appointees, heads of institutions, the Chief of Staff, the governor, and the deputy governor.

“At the end of the expanded executive council meeting, there was a joint session with the leadership and members of the House of Assembly.

“This is the first time we are having such an event. If my memory serves me right, the first time is happening in the state.”

He added, “Today’s session was quite incisive, as the House of Assembly members, led by the Speaker, came with 18 bills which have been properly scrutinised by the members of the House of Assembly, and they have made their input and passed them for His Excellency’s assent.

“It’s important to note that those 18 bills were Executive bills, so they were actually products of the Executive Committee led by His Excellency, and they’ve gone through a rigorous process at the House of Assembly, and they’ve been passed.”

Uwannah explained that the new laws “also form the fulcrum, the engine block for all the roads that you see, for the infrastructural development that is going on across the state, for the massive reforms that are being carried all around the state.”

He highlighted some of the bills to include the establishment of the Office of Ombudsman, the Senior Citizens Law, relocation of the Office of Homeland Security, and that of the Umuahia Capital Development Authority, among others.

The Commissioner for Information, Kanu, also revealed that the Abia State Government, through Otti, has paid a counterpart fund of N3.5bn to support key projects, including six lots of backlog road maintenance, five lots of upgrade roads across 10 LGAs in the state, and three agro-logistics hubs under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Programme.

“So the state has paid its own counterpart funds and we expect that with a similar action from the World Bank, that project will kick off around the state. Ten or more LGAs will benefit from that program,” he added.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Blessing Ngozi Felix, said, “Gov. Otti has demonstrated once again his commitment to the development of our rural communities by investing in long-term solutions as regards road infrastructure under the Abia State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project.

“He recently approved the payment of the counterpart fund to the tune of N3.5 billion, which is a key requirement for all states who are participating in the Rural Access Project. Abia is one of the states.”