NAHCON Commissioner for Operations Abdullahi Hardawa, who met with the Saudi Arabian deputy minister for Hajj and Umrah on the matter disclosed this to newsmen in a chat on Sunday.
He said additional 5,000 Hajj slots have been applied for and the request had been transmitted to the highest decision making body of the kingdom.
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According to him: “I am in Saudi Arabia specifically to speak about this additional slots which we had requested for earlier before the start of the Hajj 2022 operations.
“I immediately went straight to Riyadh where I met our Ambassador who told me of the efforts he had also been making on the issue.
“However, they have assured Nigeria that the request will be granted since we had written formally to them about it. It’s only a matter of time that we are concerned with.
“We need to get the slots so that it will be useful to the tour operators and other intending pilgrims that are waiting for it plus other stakeholders in various States of the Federation.
He said his visit was to expedite action on it and ensure that it benefits tour operators in particular and Nigerians in general waiting to fulfil the religious obligations this year.
