Soni Daniel, Abuja
The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, stated on Wednesday that necessary measures had been taken to make the 2023 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia better than that of past years.
The NAHCON Chief Executive Officer, who spoke with journalists in Abuja explained that the challenges posed to Nigerian pilgrims were partly caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the reductions in quota granted the country by Saudi Arabia.
Hassan has expressed that many Nigerians could not travel for Hajj this year due to the drastic reductions in the number of pilgrims from 95,000 to a paltry 41,000 by the Saudi authorities.
The chairman explained that apart from the drastic reduction in the quota granted Nigeria, there was little or no time to prepare for the hajj.
“It took just about six months to prepare for it even as Hajj had been cancelled for two previous years to the utmost distaste of intending pilgrims for those years. Worse, when the 2022 hajj was finally announced by the Saudi Arabia authorities to be possible, the number to be allowed had been severely slashed by more than 50%.
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