Two Pregnant Women Collapse, Die During Teachers’ Verification Exercise in Bauchi

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
Two pregnant women collapsed and died in Bauchi on Tuesday while waiting to be screened by the verification team from the Office of the Accountant  General of the Bauchi State government.

The two pregnant women were among the about 6,000 teachers in the state who were asked to assemble at the state government education secretariat  for screening before collecting their salaries.
An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity, told THISDAY  that the first woman who was about seven months pregnant,  fainted when the crowd were pushing to be verified, a situation  that triggered a congestion during the exercise.

According  to him:  “We all assembled at the local government education authority to be verified because  we have not been paid for three months. People came from the local government areas of the state so there was a massive  crowd that gathered at the venue”
“The verification exercise took us by surprise  because we were in the classroom  teaching when we were  called upon to  be screened. That was why there was a large  turnout  of people”

“Some of the people who came early were lucky enough to be verified, but as the crowd kept increasing, people began to push each other, not minding who was  standing close .In the process, an unidentified pregnant woman fainted and went into a coma”

Speaking further on the issue, another eyewitness called Abubakar Yusuf, said: “As we were yet to recover from the tragic  incident that befell the first woman teacher, another pregnant woman  collapsed and had a miscarriage instantly. The two pregnant women were rushed to the hospital for treatment. We later heard that they died.”

Yusuf then  called on the state government to ease  the sufferings  teachers are experiencing during  verification exercises by finding other alternative methods that would not lead to congestion of workers.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the exercise, describing it as excruciating for their age and health conditions.