What would have been a tragedy was on Monday averted in Bauchi as the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Maryam Yalwaji Katagum, collapsed at an empowerment programme in Bauchi.
Katagum who was in the Bauchi State capital to launch the empowerment programme, suddenly collapsed when she was about to deliver her speech at the event held at Sanin Malam Shopping Plaza, Bauchi, which had the Bauchi State Deputy Governor, Bala Tela in attendance.
She was subsequently rushed to the Trauma Centre of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, for immediate treatment.
An eyewitness said the minister was noticed to be withdrawn when she arrived at the venue of the empowerment programme, adding that she was intermittently touching her head while the programme was going on.
It was further gathered that while Ambassador Katagum stood up upon being invited to deliver her speech, she held her head and collapsed, forcing her aides and top officials at the event to quickly rush her to the hospital for treatment.
As of this evening, the minister was still at the hospital where she was said to be responding to treatment, though there is no official statement on the incident.
Officials of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, who were in the minister’s entourage and present at the time of the incident were said to be at the hospital, monitoring as events unfold.
While one of them confirmed the presence of the minister in the teaching hospital, a top government official told journalists that the minister would be flown to Abuja as soon as her condition improved.
Daily Post reports that Ambassador Katagum arrived in Bauchi last Saturday and had since then engaged in some activities, including featuring on a live programme on Globe FM of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) on Sunday.