The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced the allocation of ninety-five thousand Hajj slots to Nigeria for the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage.
In a statement signed by the commission’s Deputy Director of Information and Publications, Mousa Ubandawaki the announcement was made via a virtual meeting held between the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON and the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
According to the statement Nigeria is expected to finalise all arrangements and negotiations with Service Providers including Catering, Accommodation and Transportation within the next one hundred and twenty days, NAHCON is expected to submit the lists of Medical and other officials to the Kingdom as soon as possible to enhance mutual working relations and also to ensure that only Air Carriers with at least two Aircraft on its fleet and a Back-up are appointed and allowed to participate in the 2024 Hajj operation.
The Director General Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umra Dr Badr Mohammed Al-Somi urged the Commission to strive to meet the timeline in order to enable the Ministry to make an adequate plan and also avoid the experience and incidents witnessed in this year’s Hajj.
“We want all Hajj Missions to be proactive in meeting our time frame so that we won’t allow what happened previously and also to give the missions sufficient time to examine the services before pilgrims’ arrival”.
The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria NAHCON, Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan in his address, called on the Saudi Authorities to expedite action on the refund of the feeding and tent services not provided in the Mashair during the 2023 Hajj.
He further reiterates the need for the Kingdom to disengage from the provision of feeding service in the Masha’ir and allow the country to take over Muna and Arafat to afford the Pilgrims opportunities to enjoy delicacies they were used to at home.
The Chairman also sought the support and assistance of the Saudi Hajj Ministry in securing the refund paid to the General Authority on Saudi Aviation on behalf of the Nigerian Carriers in 2019.
Alhaji Hassan also called on the Ministry to review its decision to allow Nigerian Pilgrims to depart through the King Abdul-Aziz International Airport Jeddah instead of Madina as that would create bottlenecks and logistics problems for the pilgrims.
In the same vein, the Commission appealed to the Saudi Ministry for the upward review of the number of Tour Operators and Companies to be allowed to conduct Hajj from ten to hundred companies saying that much as the action will enable the Commission to organise the agencies for effective management and control, the sudden decision would seem to be too harsh.
The meeting which officially marked the start of the 2024 Hajj was attended by the Chairman, of the House Committee on Hajj, Honorable Jafar Mohammed, representatives of the Chairman, of Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Abubakar Sani Bello as well as the Nigerian Consul-General in Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Bello Abdulkadir.
Dominica Nwabufo
