18th August, 2018
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Friday concluded the transportation of Nigeria’s pilgrims to this year’s Hajj with the arrival of about 190, making up 37,746 pilgrims now in Saudi Arabia.
The last batch flew into the country through a Fly Nass airline from Abuja, which conveyed five pilgrims from Kaduna State, 14 members of the medical team and 171 others.
The operation was conducted in 101 flights undertaken by Max Air, Fly Nass and Medview Ltd. from various locations in Nigeria, and had targeted 55,000 pilgrims.
The Hajj inaugural flight took off with 446 Kogi Pilgrims on July 21 in Abuja, followed by 382 from Nasarawa State.
With the latest, 37,746 Nigerian pilgrims have now joined about 1.6 million pilgrims worldwide performing the Hajj in the Holy land this year.
The Saudi Government had announced the figure, saying 233,000 of the total were domestic pilgrims now in Makkah, while others were being expected.
Saudi’s General Overseer of Passports, Sulaiman Al-Yahya, said 18 individuals were being prosecuted for illegally transporting pilgrims without permits.
The Nigerian pilgrims are also expected to join others worldwide to perform the Hajj rites on Monday on Arafat Day, and later observe the Eid-El-Kabir on Tuesday.