Hajj 2019: NAHCON licenses 115 tour operators

THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has released a list of the approved licenced tour operators for the 2019 hajj operation with the corresponding number of slots allocated to each.

This followed a two-day hearing and verification of claims by a committee set up by NAHCON to consider appeals from companies for this year’s hajj.

According to the commission, 115 out of 147 companies that applied for the licence have so far been approved to participate in the year’s hajj and umrah exercises. The applications were submitted online.

Meanwhile, the commission has commended the Kogi State Hajj Commission (KSHC) for what it called its proper management of all matters regarding preparations for this year’s hajj.

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A statement by the head of the public affairs division of the commission, Hajiya Fatima Usara, said KSHC was the first to renew its licence with the commission and decentralise screening of pilgrims across the three senatorial districts.

“In particular, NAHCON congratulates the Kogi State commission for being the first to renew its licence with NAHCON, in compliance with the rules and regulations of the national hajj body. Milestones like these ease the job of the nation’s hajj handlers curtailing hiccups that may be experienced during peak period of the annual Muslims’ pilgrimage to the holy land.

“Apart from renewal of its licence, the KSHC has moved ahead in decentralizing structures of pilgrims’ screening across its three senatorial districts as well as decentralizing medical screening across same zones. The state hajj commission has also been in the forefront of carrying out pilgrims’ enlightenment on electronic and print media in addition to one-on-one pilgrims education campaigns. Initiatives like these explain the coordinated execution of hajj schedules that KSHC has come to.

“Indeed, NAHCON had during 2018 hajj commended the same Kogi commission for its timely preparations that ultimately saw its pilgrims being the first to be airlifted to and from Saudi Arabia.

“It is NAHCON’s prayer that KSHC under the chairmanship of Sheikh Luqman Imam Abdullahi will continue to achieve admirable feats in hajj management that will take the state and nation at large to international reverence,” the statement said.