The Sultan of Sokoto and Nigeria’s Amirul Hajj, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, has given the reason why the airlift of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj was staggered.
?The royal father said that the development was a deliberate policy by the Saudi Arabian authorities to decongest Jeddah Airport.
The Executive Chairman of National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), Muhammad Musa Bello, had also stated that 56,000 Nigerians had been airlifted to Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s Hajj.
He also gave the assurance that the country would meet the October 31 deadline given by the Saudi? authorities. The Amirul Hajj and the chairman of NAHCON said this? while on a working visit to Minna Airport, one of the airlift centres in Nigeria.
The Sultan pointed out that because of the congestion experienced in the past, the Saudi authorities decided to discourage mass airlift of pilgrims.
The royal father added that some of the challenges noticed in this year’s Hajj operation would be addressed just as? he said that the spread in the airlift of pilgrims would not affect the stipulated time of completion of the airlift operations.
He said: “There should be no fear of not completing the operation as scheduled. We will achieve it. What we have been doing is that those who go first will come back to Nigeria first, no deviation.”
The Sultan advised the pilgrims? not to spend their money on non-essential goods only to run short of money towards the end of the pilgrimage.
He said that with the cooperation of the state governments, they would propose a staggered payment of the basic travelling allowances to avoid profligacy among pilgrims that usually create problems for them towards the end of the exercise.
?He emphasised the need for pilgrims to conduct themselves in the most orderly manner to portray the image of Nigeria in good light and expressed his delight with the progress of work as well as arrangements at the Minna airlift centre.