The Forum of Chief Executive officers of state pilgrims Welfare Boards, Agencies and Commissions, has commended the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON for the just concluded 2024 hajj operations.
The forum led by Malam Idris Ahmed AlMakura of Nasarawa State Pilgrims Welfare Board gave the commendation at a press briefing held in Makkah, Friday.
The forum in a six-point resolution said from the visas processing to airlifting of pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at record time, to visitation of pilgrims to Rawdah in Madinah, feeding and Mashair activities, NAHCON performed well and deserved commendation.
The forum however expressed disappointment by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, over the $400 given to pilgrims using the prevailing exchange rate instead of the $500 earlier agreed.
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Reading forum’s resolutions, Almakura said: “”We are here today to talk about the just concluded Hajj operations. At the conclusion of every Hajj, we always sit to discuss how we have fared. The forum has just met where we did a post-mortem of the 2024 Hajj and came out with some resolutions in order to let the whole world know what happened in 2024 Hajj.
The resolutions are:
The Forum of Chairmen and Secretaries of State Executives commended NAHCON for the early processing and approval of visas to pilgrims. This is the first time the state pilgrims got visas between 2-3 weeks before the outbound flights.
- Advertisement -The forum notes with admiration that all pilgrims stayed equal number of days in Madinah and the commission facilitated entrance into the Rawdah. This is commendable and the forum encourage NAHCON to sustain this feat.
The airlift of the pilgrims from Nigeria to the KSA was commendable and we hope and believe the inbound airlifts will be as good and smooth as the outbound.
We also commend NAHCON for a better handling of Masha’ir activities for this 2024 Hajj. The Forum notes an improvement in the accommodation and feeding at the Mashair this year compared to what happened in 2022 and 2023. The Forum however called for inclusion of more local foods into the food menu for future Masha’ir feeding.
- Advertisement -The Forum expresses displeasure over the $400 given to pilgrims by the Central bank of Nigeria, despite earlier agreement to give the pilgrims $500 as BTA only to turn around and sell at the prevailing market rate.
The Forum condemns the infiltration of Takaries into Mina which constitute nuisance to the Mina environment. The forum calls on the Saudi Arabia government to tighten its Mina entry points.
Reacting to the essence of the Nusuk and how it had not prevented the illegal migrants and Takaries into the Mashair, , Almakura noted that the infiltration of the Takaries, in the Mashair this year is better than what we had in 2022 and 2023.
