Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Abdullahi Mukhtar has attributed the decrease in the number of this year’s intending pilgrims to the early closure of registration portal by the Saudi Arabia authorities earlier than expected.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that over 70,000 Nigerian pilgrims performed the Hajj rites in 2017, but the number has reduced this year.
Speaking with BBC Hausa Service and monitored by our correspondent in Kano on Saturday, Mr Mukhtar disclosed that the Saudi authorities had closed the collection of the hajj fares on July 23, 3 weeks earlier than the usual closing date.
“Our pilgrims, who are mostly traders and farmers, have the tradition of paying for the hajj fares within the last 2 weeks before the commencement of Hajj. It was by then you see about 25,000 to 30,000 people paying the hajj fares.
“This might not be unconnected with the fact that most of these intending pilgrims are small-scale traders and farmers.
“They want to continue investing their money to get more profit until at the verge of the closure of the payment. The farmers also wait until they finish selling their grains, then they pay their fares,” he said.
The NAHCON Boss noted that the new system would be a lesson to Nigerian intending pilgrims to be well prepared for next year’s Hajj.
He also disclosed that over 50,000 Nigerian pilgrims are expected to perform this year’s Hajj.
Mr Mukhtar added that 11,500 Nigerian pilgrims had so far been airlifted to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj in 27 flights.
He described the Hajj operation as a success, saying, “every pilgrim is being taken care of. Their allowances are duly being disbursed to them.”
He further disclosed that 430 medical staff had been set aside to render health care services to the Nigerian pilgrims in both Madinah and Makkah.
He added that the medical centres had already been situated close to and in the pilgrims’ accommodation, in addition to 5 life-support ambulance to provide intensive healthcare delivery to the pilgrims.
