Religion

We airlifted all pilgrims on schedule – NAHCON Boss

By Web News 544

By Nafiu Busari

The Chairman/CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Barrister Zikrullah Hassan has arrived in Saudi Arabia after spearheading a smooth airlift of Nigerian pilgrims to the holy land for this year’s Hajj.

The chairman arrived at Jeddah International Airport on Friday, alongside his management team and other officials of the commission.

He arrived at 23:20hrs Saudi time with 156 pilgrims and 139 officials.

Speaking at the final batch of the airlift ceremony of Niger State pilgrims at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport on Friday, the NAHCON boss said it is an historic feat for the commission to airlift all its pilgrims on schedule.

The chairman further expressed gratitude to the Almighty Allah for making the entire exercise a success despite some of the challenges encountered especially against the background of the last year’s issues and due to the emergency nature of the operation.

“There are many things for us to be grateful, this year’s operation is about the first time in ten years when we are going to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the total number of over 95,000, it has taken a while for Nigerian pilgrims to get to this number.”

“And the beauty of it is that despite the number we are able to airlift all the States’ pilgrims and I must say that even those of the tour operators who are challenged, by 2am today in sha Allah after midnight today the last of the tour operators pilgrims chartered airplane will leave Lagos, we are safe to conclude that every operation managed and micromanaged by NAHCON as far as airlift is concerned are going to be in the kingdom and partake in the Arafat,” he said.

Mr Hassan also added that a flight that will depart 2pm on Saturday is strictly for NAHCON officials.

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Religion

MMPN hails Appointment of New NAHCON Chairman

By Web News 1131

 … Urges him to address hajj challenges

The Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) has described the appointment of Alhaji Dhikrullah Olakunle Hassan as the new Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) as apt.

In a congratulatory message to the new Chairman which was signed by Abdur-Rahman Balogun and Tajudeen Adebanjo, National President and National Secretary respectively, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing a Muslim from the South West, to head the Commission.

The apex Muslim body for Media Practitioners in the country said that Hassan’s appointment by Mr. President is a demonstration of our belief in Mr. President’s detribalised nature.

“We have no doubt that Hassan’s appointment is a square peg in a square hole going by his achievements as the helmsman of the Osun State Muslim Pilgrims Board for eight years.”

Besides, Hassan is an erudite scholar with wider acceptability and one of the contemporary scholars whose views on topical issues are in tandem with the Quran and Sunnah.

“We believe that he will live up to the expectations of millions of Nigerian Muslims and surpasses the achievements of his predecessors in office.

“We are not unaware of the landmark successes recorded by immediate past Chairman, Abdullah Mukhtar.

“We urge Hassan to improve on them and fine-tune the hajj process with the support of other members of the Commission,” MMPN advised.

As the watchdog of the society, MMPN implored the new NAHCON Chairman to see how hajj could be brought to the level of commoners, whose financial predicament is a big stumbling block to their desire of performing the last pillar of Islam by seeing to the reduction in Hajj fares.

“We also want the Chairman to look into the man-hours lost boarding of flights to and from Saudi Arabia. The reduction of that time is achievable as being practised by the private hajj operators and other Nationals.

Similarly, the issue of accommodation in Madinah and Makkah needs to be seriously looked into. Many Nigerians still live at houses far from Masjid Haram, especially in Makkah. This deprived them in observing five daily prayers in Masjid Haram and engages in Tawaf (Circumambulation of the Ka’aba) as many times as they wish and also denied them of some facilities.

As said that data is life, many pilgrims do spend their BTA to buy data instead of using it for other meaningful things.

Meal is another big challenge for pilgrims especially in Madinah, Muna, and Arafat where NAHCON is in charge of providing meals for all the pilgrims.

“Mr. Chairman, kindly take cognisance of diverse tribe going for hajj, hence choice of meals should not be generalised.

‘Those who get the contracts of providing the meal must take note of what certain tribe loves to eat and provide it instead of one-type-of-meal fits all. 

MMPN assured the new chairman of partnering with the commission in other areas such as media awareness and advocacy and hajj logistics geared towards improving hajj services in Nigeria. 

Signed

Abdur-Rahman Balogun

National President (08052729751)

Tajudeen Adebanjo

National Secretary (08034693984)