The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Sunday declared that despite warnings, pilgrims still bringing kola nuts to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was a major challenge to this year’s holy pilgrimage, causing delays to its smooth airlift operation.
NAHCON’s Head, National Reception Team for Madina, Labaran Abdullahi, made this known while speaking with some members of the National Media Team for the 2024 Hajj at the Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madina, shortly after receiving pilgrims from Lagos and Osun states who arrived in the Kingdom yesterday morning.
Abdullahi said Saudi authorities had been discouraging people from coming into the Kingdom with kola nuts, but despite this, some pilgrims still smuggled the item into the country.
According to him, to avoid any embarrassment to Nigeria, the Hajj Commission always insisted that state pilgrim welfare boards, commissions, and agency officials discourage their pilgrims from coming to Saudi Arabia with kolanuts.
“Some (pilgrims) will come with kolanuts. You know the Saudi government is discouraging people from coming with kola nuts. These are the major issues.
“We always tell the state pilgrim coordinators to always discourage the pilgrims coming with kola nuts because that is what is giving us some delays,” the NRT head for Madina said.
He also said another challenge the team was facing was the issue of some pilgrims who were cleared in Nigeria but put their passports in the luggage and, on arrival in Saudi Arabia, would have their luggage moved from the aircraft straight to their buses while they were yet to be cleared for entrance by the Saudi authorities.
According to him, until such passports were brought for clearance, such pilgrims would not be allowed to leave, adding that this caused some delays for the team to smoothly move pilgrims to the town.
Apart from these challenges, Abdullahi said the team had been working smoothly with the pilgrims, who he said have been cooperating with NAHCON officials on the ground.
He informed me that the smooth operation being achieved this year was attributable to the new approach and dimension of Hajj introduced by NAHCON Chairman and CEO, Malam Jalal Ahmad Arabi, including the orientation of the epikgrims right from Nigeria.
Abdullahi informed us that Arabi gave the commission’s staff the opportunity to stand up and discharge their duties as described by the Hajj body, adding that the grouping of pilgrims into a group of 45 was a game changer.
In his words, “The new chairman (Arabi) has come with a new dimension and approach to Hajj. First of all, is the orientation of the pilgrims, right from Nigeria, and the encouragement he gave the staff that everybody must stand up and discharge their duties as described by the commission.
“So, he introduced, in collaboration with the Saudi government, the 45 groupings, while pilgrims from Nigeria will group themselves into a group of 45. As they reach the airport here, they will enter their buses in a group of 45.
“It gives us a seamless work; it gives us a free movement of pilgrims. It won’t take us more than 45 minutes to clear about 500 people from the airport into their buses. As the pilgrims arrived, they were entering their buses.”
He said so far the Nigerian officials had been having smooth working relationships with Saudi authorities, saying that “if there is any issue, they feel that they need to let us know or guide us; they call our attention, and we follow whatever direction they give us, and that makes us have understanding and cooperation between ourselves.”
ALSO READ THESE TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
