As it is a few days away from the commencement of this year’s Hajj exercise, the Nigerian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Yahaya Lawal, has declared the exercise for this year as experimental Hajj.
This is as the Saudi Arabia authorities have extended the deadline for airlifting of Nigerian pilgrims to the Holy Land to July 6 to enable all the country’s pilgrims to be airlifted for the Hajj exercise.
Speaking on Sunday evening during his visit to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) office in Madinah, where he was briefed on the operations so far, Lawal commended the Hajj body for doing its best to ensure a successful Hajj this year following two years of non-participation of international pilgrims as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the ambassador, the 2022 Hajj was being held on the basis of an experiment despite the fact that the pandemic had yet abated.
This, he said, was the reason the Saudi authorities came up with some measures to curtail the spread of the disease during this year’s Hajj exercise.
He noted that while the last exercise held in 2019 had about 2.5 million participants, this year’s Hajj only has one million participants approved by the Saudi Arabian authorities and expressed the hope that the figure might improve with the success of the 2022 edition.
While saying that the Saudi policies on Hajj this year are not targeted at Nigeria only, Ambassador Yahaya disclosed that it was a worldwide policy, adding that Nigerians should not see it as anything against Nigeria.
Speaking on the airlift of Nigerian pilgrims so far, Ambassador Lawal assured that all registered pilgrims would be airlifted to the Holy Land before the closure of Saudi’s airspace.
He, however, pleaded with any pilgrims who might not be airlifted before the airspace closure to see such as the will of Allah and not their time yet to perform the obligatory spiritual exercise.
Meanwhile, the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has approved the extension of landing permits for Nigerian Hajj carriers under NAHCON’s umbrella till July 6 for one of them.
The other carriers, according to a statement made available to Tribune Online by the commission’s Assistant Director, Public Affairs, Fatima Sanda Usara, had Monday, July 4 and Tuesday, July 5 approved to end their airlift operations.
Usara stated that NAHCON sought the extension to enable it to transport its remaining pilgrims into the Kingdom for the 2022 Hajj.
“Of the 43,008 pilgrims expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia from Nigeria, 27,359, inclusive of 527 staff as well as committees and board members, under the government quota have been conveyed.
“Similarly, over 5,000 out of the 8,097 tour operators’ pilgrims with valid visas were moved through scheduled flights and other arrangements,” she informed.
According to her, the extension was necessitated by excessive flight cancellations and flight delays, adding that data have shown that, from June 10 to 13, nine flights were cancelled due to reasons ranging from inability to secure BTA, insufficient funds for visas to unavailable PCR test results, among others.
“In total, 13 flights were cancelled with another 57 delayed take-offs. Seven of which are in two digits, with the highest being 24 hours’ delay, followed by 23 hours delay, 22 hours and lowest in this category are twice 10-hour delays.
“Only 13 flights left on schedule out of the 65 outbound flights so far witnessed from the country,” the statement informed.
Usara, however, stated that despite the difficult situation, no pilgrim would be left behind without being airlifted to Saudi Arabia, saying that this explained why the frequency of outbound flights improved to seven take-offs on Sunday at full capacity too.
“Notwithstanding the difficult situation, NAHCON once again reiterates that God willing, no pilgrim will be left behind as long as that individual has valid travel documents.
“To buttress this fact, frequency of outbound flights improved to seven take-offs yesterday and at full capacity too. Thankfully, one of the carriers, FlyNas, with its four aircraft, will fly four times daily thereby moving 1,732 each day.
“Therefore, NAHCON appeals to pilgrims to be calm and to remain prepared for onward conveyance for the 2022 Hajj.”
NAHCON, according to Usara regretted any tension and stress intending pilgrims might have experienced during this outbound journey to Saudi Arabia.
She further stated that the commission Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, commended Nigerian pilgrims’ resilience and prayed that they all attain Hajj mabrur whose reward was Jannatul Firdaus.
Hassan, however, gave assurance that NAHCON management would review the operations to make sure that such inconveniences are never repeated.
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