The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has directed State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards to conclude the grouping of intending pilgrims into groups of 45 persons each, as well as data uploads to the e-Track Portal, latest by Friday.
The commission said the directive was to ensure the ease of visa issuance, and its compliance with the directives of the Saudi authorities mandating the grouping of pilgrims, adding that visas will be issued only when pilgrims have completed a group of 45.
This was contained in a statement signed by NAHCON’s Deputy Director of Information & Publications Division, Mousa Ubandawaki, on Monday.
The commission had earlier disclosed the official number of registered pilgrims as 51,477 prospective pilgrims, who completed payments for the 2024 Hajj exercise, under the government quota.
This was after 48,414 pilgrims who had initially paid the earlier announced fare of N4.9m, were required to pay an additional N1.9m as a result of “the current foreign exchange rate.”
In his statement, Ubandawaki urged pilgrims who wished to be grouped to approach their various state welfare boards to ensure they were all registered in a single group of 45, noting that the groups will conduct all of the Hajj activities together, including travel and accommodation.
“The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) wishes to advise State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards, Commissions, and Agencies to conclude the grouping of pilgrims into groups of 45 and conclude data upload to the e-Track Portal by Friday 26th, 2024.
Also, NAHCON is encouraging all pilgrims who wish to travel together in desired groups to meet their respective State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards to be grouped, as this is the only avenue to arrange to travel with those whom you wish.
It should be noted that these groups of 45 will always conduct their Hajj activities together; from departure from Nigeria, accommodation and movement in both Makkah and Madinah, Masha’ir activities, and journey back to Nigeria”, the statement partly read.
The commission also pointed out that the directive formed the “last chance” given by the Saudi authorities for arrangements of group travels for the Hajj operations.
They added that after the expiration of the deadline, “pilgrims will remain confined with their selected group members whose visas will appear together”.
Credit: punchng.com
