The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia has extended landing permits of Nigerian Hajj carriers from July 4 to July 6.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Assistant Director of Public Affairs Division, Mrs. Fatima Usara, announced this in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
Mrs. Usara explained that the extension was necessitated by excessive flight cancellations and flight delays.
The director said from June 10 to June 13, nine flights were cancelled.
This, according to her, was due to several reasons, ranging from the inability of some state pilgrims welfare boards to secure Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) for pilgrims, insufficient funds for visas and unavailable PCR test results.
She said 13 flights were cancelled while 57 others had delayed take-offs, seven of which are in two digits, with the highest being a 24-hour delay.
“It was followed by 23 hours delay, 22 hours and lowest in this category are twice 10-hour delays. Only 13 flights left on schedule out of the 65 outbound flights so far witnessed from the country.
“From Monday, July 4, the extension will commence till July 6 for one of the airlines, whereas July 4 and 5 have been approved for the another airline.
“NAHCON sought the extension to enable it to transport its remaining pilgrims into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 2022 hajj.
“Out of the 43,008 pilgrims expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia from Nigeria, 27,359, inclusive of 527 workers as well as committees and board members, under the government quota have been conveyed.
“Similarly, over 5,000 out of the 8,097 tour operators’ pilgrims with valid visas were moved through scheduled flights and other arrangements.”
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of First Planet Travels, Malam Umar Kaila, said the sole agent of FlyNas Airline of Saudi Arabia was ready and willing to ensure that no Nigerian pilgrim is left behind.
Also, about 150 intending pilgrims from Oyo State will not perform this year’s Hajj over visa denial by Saudi authorities.
The chairman of the state’s Pilgrim Welfare Board (Muslim Wing), Prof. Sayed Malik, announced this while addressing reporters yesterday in Ibadan.
According to him, the denial of visa to the affected intending pilgrims by the Saudi authorities in the 11th hour was based on the recommendations of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
He explained that 629 out of 43,000 slots given to Nigeria were allocated to Oyo State to perform the 2022 hajj, despite the fact that over 1,000 Muslims have already registered to perform the hajj.
“To take care of the shortfall, we in Oyo State Pilgrim Welfare Board requested for additional slots from NAHCON.
“And this was granted, as additional 150 slots were given to Oyo State, thereby increasing the state’s slots from 629 to 779.
“Based on its correspondence with NAHCON, Oyo State Pilgrim’ Welfare Board made preparation for 779 pilgrims.
“But the state’s slot was reduced to 629 few days before the pilgrims were scheduled to go to holy lands.
“The board hereby regrets that about 150 intending pilgrims from the state could not perform this year’s hajj,” he said.
Also, Kwara State’s Amirul Hajj to Saudi Arabia, Dr. Awa Ibraheem, has attributed the initial hiccups in securing accommodation for the third batch of this year’s pilgrims from the state to Saudi Arabia to the diversion of their flight from Medinah to Jeddah.
Ibraheem said the initial accommodation problem faced by some of the pilgrims in Makkah had been sorted out.
The Amirul Hajj said the pilgrims were expected to stay for some days in Medinah before moving to Makkah.
He dismissed allegation that the accommodation hiccups were caused by the state pilgrims board’s late payment to the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON).
“We operated four batches. The first two batches, comprising of over 1,000 pilgrims went straight to Medinah and it went well. The third batch was also supposed to go to Medinah by the time the flight took off from Ilorin.
“Everyone believed they were heading to Madinah, but they had to transit in Kano for some time from where the flight was diverted to Jeddah. They were eventually taken to Makkah instead of Madinah.”
“By the time they got to Makkah, one of the two batches that had earlier gone to Madinah was already done with religious rites in Madinah. So, they also went back to Makkah.
“The spaces they left behind in Madinah were supposed to be occupied by the third batch that was inadvertently moved to Makkah instead of Madinah.
“So, when they got to Makkah, the caretakers there were not expecting them and they had already accommodated those that returned to Makkah from Madinah.
“That is what caused the itches. But I’m assuring you that by last night (Sunday), everybody had been adequately accommodated.
The issue wasn’t repeated with the last batch as they were taken straight to Madinah unlike the third batch,” Ibraheem said.
