One thousand, one hundred and fifty intending pilgrims from Nigeria have missed this year’s Hajj exercise.
The breakdown of the affected intending pilgrims shows that the private tour operators sector has the highest with 740 followed by Kano State with 700.
Others are Plateau State with 91 intending pilgrims while Bauchi State has 9.
This is contained in a statement by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON Assistant Director, Public Affairs, Alhaja
Fatima Sanda-Usara.
NAHCON regretted all inconveniences caused by the development to the intending pilgrims and other stakeholders and attributed the cause to the last minute dissappoitment regarding flight arrangements, pointing out that the Commission is ready to refund the intending pilgrims.
“Sadly, despite all efforts to airlift all Nigerian intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the 2022 Hajj, NAHCON was incapacitated in discharging this responsibility fully, majorly due to last minute setbacks that frustrated its plan to conclude airlift of pilgrims by 27th June of this year. Unfortunately, the chartered flights option that gave so much hope to NAHCON and the Private Tour Operators’ leadership also became a failure as their IBAN accounts failed accreditation by the respective authorities in Saudi Arabia”.
“The Commission gives assurance that all affected pilgrims will be refunded their Hajj fares while it will work towards improving its deficiencies against next time. NAHCON has learnt a lot of lessons and is determined not to have a repetition of the unfortunate situation”.
NAHCON also acknowledged disappointment and hardships experienced by pilgrims already in Saudi- Arabia during their airlift operations to the holy land.
“NAHCON humbly acknowledges the following: that it owes deep and unreserved regrets to the entire intending pilgrims to 2022 Hajj for the hardships and disappointments experienced during outbound airlift operations to the holy land. The Commission offers similar apologies to the federal government of Nigeria, State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards, Private Tour Operators, and the general public for any embarrassment the situation of the past few weeks might have caused”.
