The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman Pakistan has commended President Bola Ahmad Tinubu and his Vice President, Kashim Shettima over their intervention in solving the BTA to intending pilgrims via ATM puzzle.
Speaking with Freedom Radio Kaduna, the Chairman stated that their intervention made the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to rescind its earlier decision of issuing ATM instead of cash to intending Nigerian pilgrims.
He said that though no nationals of any nation can afford to be left behind in an ever changing world, new innovations would only be meaningful and beneficial if gradually and systematically infused and assimilated by a society at its pace, taking cognisance of and appreciating its culture and background.
Professor Abdullahi Pakistan said Hajj handlers would certainly put on their thinking caps to see how the issue of BTA via ATM, or cash riddles are tackled and solved before they become topics of discussion and debate in public fora, as witnessed last year and this year, saying that the world is dynamic; ever changing and moving fast, which makes it imperative for Hajj handlers to be proactive in keeping pace with the ever occuring changes and dynamics of global social relations.
He said the main grouse about the new policy is that majority of Nigerian pilgrims are rural dwellers who are not in anyway familiar with the nation’s banking processes, let alone those of the external world.
In addition he said, the ATM machines at the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah are grossly inadequate in view of the over two or three million pilgrims that converge in the holy land for the annual religious rite, saying one hardly finds five of such machines in the vicinity the pilgrims stay in the two holy cities.
The NAHCON Chairman stated that after this year’s Hajj the Commission would sit with stakeholders under the guidance of the Vice President to find a lasting solution.
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