Nwagba Blessing Okwuchi

Blessing Okwuchi Nwagba is a Nigerian politician. She is currently serving as a member of the Abia State House of Assembly as the committee chairman on women affairs, social welfare and health representing Aba North Constituency. She is a sociologist by profession and former director of Belzy Pharmaceuticals, Belzy Farms, Belzy Fashion and Fulfillment International Academy and College.

Blessing Nwagba is from Mbutu Umuojioma Ogbu, Abia State. She was educated at St Clements School Mbutu Umuojioma Ogbu, Federal Government College, Odogbolu, and the University of Lagos, graduating with a B.Sc. in sociology in 1983. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology (industrial relations and personnel management) in the University of Port Harcourt in 2014. She married Israel Nwagba, a pharmacist from Osusu-Aba, Abia State, and they have four children.

In 1991, Nwagba started her career in politics as the supervisory Councillor for Health and Social Welfare in the Aba Local Government Council. During her tenure, Aba North was created. She later became a member of the Education Authority of Aba North LGA and oversaw primary education policy and implementation.

She moved to the University College Hospital, Ibadan in 2009, where she was part of a seven-man board, inaugurated by former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, to guide the hospital’s strategic direction.

In 2011, she was elected as a member of the Abia State House of Assembly representing Aba North Constituency. She was the Chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Industry and Women Affairs. She developed legislative frameworks to attract external investment in Abia, regulating industries like Nigerian Bottling Company, Nigerian Breweries, Starline Paper Mills, and Guinness.

She sponsored the Abia State bill on institutional support for disability, which was passed but not implemented by the Governor. She also championed the Abia State bill on widowhood rights and contributed to debates on various bills passed into law. She addressed social and infrastructural challenges, advocating for the rehabilitation of the Ariaria International Market access road and Ukwu Mango road.

She organized public hearings and legislative interventions regarding the Abia State University gang rape incident in October 2011. Upon resuming her second term in March 2016, she was assigned to chair the House Committee on Women Affairs, Social Welfare, and Health. She sponsored bills on genotype and blood group insertion on identity cards to reduce child mortality and proposed an anti-discrimination law on HIV/AIDS carriers.

She moved motions to address grazing reserve issues and cattle menace in Abia State, restricting proposed grazing route bills. She drew ASEPA’s attention to refuse along Osusu Road, Aba, advocating for an alternative route. She participated in training for African parliamentarians in Côte d'Ivoire and presented Nigeria’s roadmap for HIV/AIDS access and medicine.

She organized health interventions for Abia residents, including free surgeries and treatments from Rapha Hans Foundation in the USA for diabetes, hypertension, and ophthalmology. On June 23, 2017, she provided free eye care and medication during a town hall meeting in her constituency. She founded Total Blessing Foundation, a charity focused on education and health.

Nwagba has received over fifty honors and awards. In 2012, she was awarded the Women of Worth by St. Matthew Anglican Church, Aba. In 2014, she was conferred with the Odo Abia (second-highest honor for women in Abia State) and the knighthood of the Order of St. Mary by the Anglican Diocese of Aba. She was inducted into the Aba Sports Club in 2009.