TO affirm the commencement of preparations for the 2024 hajj, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has allocated 70,000 slots to states of the federation, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Armed Forces.
The chairman of the commission, Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan, had on Tuesday informed chairmen and secretaries of states’ Muslim pilgrims welfare boards, agencies and commissions as well as members of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN) at separate meetings that NAHCON had commenced earnest preparations for the next hajj operations.
Hassan said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had released its calendar for next year’s hajj, with issuance of visas to be closed by April 29, 2024, and the first batch of pilgrims expected to arrive in the holy land by May 9, 2024.
It was learnt that the allocation of slots to the states, FCT and Armed Forces was announced at the meeting with the state boards at the Hajj House in Abuja on Tuesday.
An approved list of the allocation seen by the Nigerian Tribune shows that while both Abia and Akwa Ibom states have zero slots, other states have varying numbers of slots allocated to them.
The distribution of slots indicates that Adamawa has 2,488; Anambra (15), Bauchi (3,364), Bayelsa (58), Benue (231), Borno (2,691), Cross River (67), Delta (64), Ebonyi (50), Edo (412) and Ekiti (246).
While Enugu has 14 slots allocated to it, FCT, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa have 4,368, 2,506, 199 and 1,518 allocated to them respectively.
Kaduna State leads on the list with 6,004. Kano has 5,934 slots, Katsina, 4,513; Kebbi, 4,752); Kogi, 691; Kwara, 3,419; Lagos, 3,517; Nasarawa, 2,010; and Niger, 3,592.
Others are Ogun (1,191), Ondo (491), Osun (1,764), Oyo (1,386), Plateau (1,345), Rivers (34), Sokoto (4,996), Taraba (1,586), Yobe (1,960), Zamfara (2,996) and the Armed Forces (528).
It was learnt that like this year’s Hajj, Nigeria has 95,000 slots for the 2024 edition. While 70,000 was shared among the 36 states, FCT and the Armed Forces, 20,000 slots were given to private tour operators, while the remaining 5,000 is meant for officials and other stakeholders, including medical personnel.
At the separate meeting held with representatives of AHOUN on Tuesday, where the 2023 hajj operation was reviewed and plans for the 2024 hajj unveiled, NAHCON told private tour operators that it is going to raise the bar with a view to enhancing their performance from the next hajj operations.
As of Saturday afternoon, no arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
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