Kano Postpones Mass Wedding Over Pre-marital Pregnancies

By Suleiman Anyalewechi 

The Kano State Government has put on hold activities regarding the planned mass wedding for some less privileged couples, citing pregnancies among some beneficiaries as a major reason.

The Source reports that the Kano State Government, through the Hisbah Board and other  relevant agencies, has been conducting both routine and mandatory tests on the about 1500 intending couples preparatory to the quarterly mass wedding event.

At an interactive session with the Media, the Executive Chairman of the Kano state AIDS Control Agency KSACA, Dr Usman Bashir, informed that some women  billed for the mass wedding were discovered to be pregnant during routine medical examination.

Dr Bashir disclosed that as part of the measures before the actual event, the agency in concert with the Kano State Hisbah Board, conducted medical tests, including HIV, and pregnancy tests to determine the health status of the intending couples.

According to him, the screening exercise is to ensure that beneficiaries satisfy all the necessary health requirements before being allowed to participate in the programme. 

The KSACA boss emphasized that the pregnancy discovery has prompted the Kano State Authorities to postpone the mass wedding.

“The decision to postpone the exercise followed the outcome of medical screening which showed that some of the prospective brides are pregnant”, he stated .

Bashir maintained that the pre-marital screening exercise is targeted at protecting the health of the couples as well as their marriages, through appropriate intervention where necessary.

This is as the authorities  urged applicants who were not successful in their earlier attempts to participate in the mass wedding programme ,to submit fresh applications for consideration.