Reports reaching Africa Daily News, New York have shown that the airlifting of Nigerian pilgrims to this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia will commence on June 9 from Maiduguri, Borno State. The spokesperson of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Fatima Sanda Usara said in statement Friday.
She said the commission’s advance team will depart for Saudi Arabia on June 6.
The statement further stated that NAHCOM has also signed Hajj airlift agreement with three airlines.
The airlines are Max Air, Azman Air and FlyNas. The agreement was signed Friday with the airlines by the commission’s Chairman, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan.
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FlyNas is based in Saudi Arabia while the other two are local airlines, satisfying the airlift quota sharing formular between the host country and other Hajj participating countries.
Seven airlines including Max Air, FlyNas, Azman Air, Med-View Airline, Skypower Express, Westlink Airlines and Arik Air applied for the slots.
After the exercise, those selected ranked the best three whose names were forwarded to the presidency for approval before sealing the contract agreement.
States allocated to specific airlines are as follows: Max Air is to fly pilgrims from 13 states namely-Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and Taraba. Azman Air is entrusted with conveyance of pilgrims from 16 states and the Armed Forces. The states are Kano, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Ogun, Ondo, Rivers, and Yobe. Meanwhile, FlyNas would fly pilgrims from Edo, FCT- Abuja, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara- making eight states.
The NAHCON chairman has also presented a formal request for additional hajj slots to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
For the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, the Hajj fare gave the first scary signal. That has now been tamed, glory to The Highest. Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, NAHCON’s Chairman appealed to the solidarity of service providers to shelve any increase in the cost of services in consideration of the country’s Hujjaj whose two-year redundant Hajj funds had been affected by devaluation. He begged accommodation providers to accept an amount lower than 2019 fees in support of Nigerian pilgrims. To this demand, they bowed without compromising the standards. In summary, Nigerian pilgrims will pay less for accommodation this year, even though it is supposed to cost more due to the new policy of four pilgrims per room. Details to follow soon.
With the collaboration of State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards officials, the NAHCON board led by its chairman painstakingly insisted that where charges would not be lowered, they would not exceed the former costs, this was done with concern for the plight of 2022 pilgrims. It was this same narrative at the car syndicate as it was with United Agents as well as airfare. But for the fixed costs of Saudi Arabia’s Hajj charges, the song would have been entirely different.
