Bauchi State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board has informed that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) allocated 3,090 slots to Bauchi State for the 2018 Hajj exercise.
Executive Secretary of the board, Abdullahi Hardawa, disclosed this in Bauchi while briefing journalists in on the plans for the 2018 Hajj operations.
He said that registration for the hajj exercise commenced in November.
He said that intending pilgrims are required to make an initial deposit of N300,000 as against N250,000 collected in 2017, which should be completed in whole or instalments to reach the maximum deposit before the final date.
According to him, intending pilgrims must have a deposit of not less than N1,500,000 before March 9th, 2018, which is three days before the 12th March, 2018 set aside by NAHCON for final remittance by state boards.
Hardawa further informed that governor, Mohammed Abubakar, directed the board to collect initial of deposit of N300,000 from the state’s intending pilgrims instead of the N1million being collected by other states.
He however, lamented that despite this gesture, the registration is too slow in the state.
The Executive Secretary informed that NAHCON has given state pilgrims boards until January 31st, 2018 as the last day to submit the registered intending pilgrims from their respective states.
He added that the board will submit the names of intending pilgrims from the state who are able to make their full payment by the end of January 2018.
“Even if it is 1,000 that registered will be the ones that they are going to summit to them.If after January more intending pilgrims come to register, they will also be accommodated till 12th March 2018. After that there would not be any registration,” he said.
The Executive Secretary called on all intending pilgrims must have a valid international passport with a minimum validity of one year and must also obtain the National Identification Number (NIN) or a National Identity Card.
He, however, said that where the passport has a validity of less than one year, such intending pilgrims should contact the board early for necessary action.
Hardawa said all intending pilgrims will be screened by a committee and their biometric data will be captured as directed by NAHCON which must contain all vital information including their medical history.
He said where an intending pilgrim is disqualified for any reason, his money will be refunded.
In another development, over N47 million has been credited to the Bauchi State Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board as refund to the state’s pilgrims who performed the 2017 Hajj exercise.
Hardawa informed that many pilgrims who performed the 2016 Hajj are yet to collect the refund for services not rendered to them during the exercise.
According to him, each pilgrim to the 2017 Hajj will be given N11,400 for services not rendered, adding that the refund will be paid to them at the Games Village in Bauchi.
He stated that the payment will between Thursday and Saturday and called on pilgrims who participated in the 2017 Hajj from the state and have not collected his refund to come to the board and collect or send another person with his particulars to collect the refund on his behalf.
