A total of 3,481 Nigerian pilgrims are already in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj exercise as of 8pm on Wednesday.
The pilgrims, made up of 1,869 males and 1,612 females, are from Bauchi; Borno; Nasarawa; FCT; Lagos and Osun states.
Bauchi has 508 pilgrims already in the Holy Land, while Borno has 516; FCT – 1,123; Lagos – 430; Nasarawa – 491 and Osun – 413.
All the pilgrims were airlifted to Saudi Arabia in eight flights from airports in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Maiduguri; Lagos and Bauchi.
The inaugural flight from the country left the Maiduguri International Airport with a total of 516 pilgrims from Borno State.
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The Borno pilgrims, according to data made available to Tribune Online by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) media team, landed in Jeddah, while the rest landed in Madina.
A total of 43,008 pilgrims from Nigeria are expected to join other pilgrims from across the world to perform this year’s Hajj, which is the fifth pillar of Islam, after two years international pilgrims were not allowed to perform the spiritual exercise.