17th August, 2017
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, (NAHCON) said 37,388 out of the 65,271 intending Nigerian pilgrims for the 2017 hajj had been transported to Saudi Arabia as at Aug. 16.
NAHCON’s Head Operations, Alhaji Abudullahi Modibo, disclosed this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
Modibo, who presented the statistics of carrier flight performance for this year exercise, said the 37,388 represents 58 per cent of the intending pilgrims.
He said that the remaining 27,883 (42 per cent) would be transported before Aug. 26 by four carriers NAHCON commissioned for the exercise.
Modibbo said transportation intending pilgrims commenced in July 30, adding that the exercise would end of Aug 25 or 26.
The Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Abudullahi Mohammed, said that this year hajj had been a successful exercise, so far.
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Mohammed was represented by Alhaji Yusuf Adebayo, NAHCONCommissioner in charge of personnel, policy, management and finance.
Mohammed further said that the commission was fully prepared for the exercise, in terms of medical treatment, transportation and accommodation of pilgrims in the Holy land, among other services.
” The arrangement for this year is made in a more conducive way,” he said.
The Head of Medical Team, Dr Ibrahim Kana, said 450 medical personnel selected from all states were trained for this year hajj.
“The team of trained health personnel arrived the Holy land, ahead of the pilgrims to set up clinic to take care of them,” Kana said.
He stated that over 35,000 drugs had been sent for the pilgrims, adding that more drugs would soon be sent.
Kana assured that the drugs would take care of all Nigerian pilgrims, adding that pilgrims from other countries could also benefit from the drugs.
Kana, who is also the Chairman, Medical Team for the Hajj, identified malaria and body weakness as the major medical challenges facing pilgrims in the past five years.
He, however, said that pilgrim would not walk far before accessing the 24-hour healthcare arranged by the commission.