Almost 2 weeks after this year’s Hajj exercise, 25 percent of Nigerian pilgrims have returned home. Out of 41, 191 pilgrims that participated in the exercise, 10,502 have been airlifted back to Nigeria while 30,689 pilgrims are still in Saudi- Arabia.
23 return flights have been recorded since the commencement of the exercise on 15th of July.
The latest to have returned safely to Nigeria via AZMAN flight ZQ2359 were 400 pilgrims from Yobe State and 2 from Bayelsa State.
According to Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Alhaji Zikirullah Hassan the pilgrims’ departure has been in line with their arrival into the holy land.
Alhaji Hassan who asked for the cooperation of other stakeholders gave an assurance that the airlifting of pilgrims back to Nigeria would have been completed before August 13 deadline given by Saudi Arabia.
While few of the pilgrims who could afford going to Medinah had gone on their own others yet to visit the Prophet Muhammad’s city are still in Makkah waiting for mobilization by NAHCON.
Our Correspondent, Ridwan Fasasi reports that some of the pilgrims used the time of their stay in Makkah to perform as many Tawaf as possible in Kaaba to seek more favour from Allah.
