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Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, congratulated Dame Virginia Ngozi Etiaba on her 80th birthday on Friday.
The Governor noted that Dame Virgy Etiaba, as she is fondly called, scored one of the many ‘firsts’ for Anambra State in 2006 when she made history as the first female governor in Nigeria.
”Within her short stay in office, as the governor of the state, she was able to work on critical infrastructure, especially roads. During that brief but remarkable tenure, her motherly disposition came to the fore as she signed the Anambra State Child Rights Act into law, thus creating a legal instrument to effectively check child abuse in the State.
”Dame Virgy Etiaba’s exemplary work as an educationist for 35 years took her through the length and breadth of the country before founding Bennet Etiaba Memorial Schools, Nnewi which has continued to set the pace in learning.”
Governor Soludo enjoined other women to emulate Dame Etiaba who has not only acquitted herself creditably as a good mother and an outstanding teacher but also as a quintessential public servant.
”As she joins the octogenarian club today, I wish her long life in very good health,” the governor added.
Also, the immediate past governor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano congratulated Dame Etiaba on the occasion of her 80th birthday in good health.
Obiano describes her as an astute politician and a woman of great wisdom and courage who exhibited maturity when she returned power to her principal, Gov. Peter Obi, following his restoration by the Court of Appeal as governor of Anambra state.
He also described her as a woman of high integrity with the fear of God. ‘’By willingly handing over power to her principal, Dame Etiaba has carved a niche in the annals of history as a loyal officer who respected the rule of law’’.
“She demonstrated faith in the law as a woman who has strong roots in the law, demonstrating that two of her children have attained the highest positions of law practice in Nigeria as SeniorAdvocates of Nigeria (SAN), Obiano hailed.
The congratulatory messages were contained in a separate statement signed and made available to Journalists in Awka, on Friday, by Paul Nwosu, the state commissioner for Information and Tony Nezianya, Chief publicist to Willie Obiano, respectively.
Tribune Online gathered that Dame Etiaba assumed office as Acting Governor of Anambra State between Nov. 2, 2006, and February. 9, 2007, following the impeachment of Gov. Obi by the then-Anambra State House of Assembly and she is the first woman to serve as governor of a Nigerian state.
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