Three days ahead of the scheduled number of flights to convey Nigerian pilgrims back home after this year’s pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON on Tuesday completed the Hajj operations with the inbound airlift of a total of 312 pilgrims from Kwara State.
The final batch of pilgrims will be arriving in Ilorin, the state capital via an Air Peace airline flight from the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
This, according to a statement signed on behalf of the NAHCON chairman, Malam Jalal Ahmad Arabi by the commission’s Assistant Director of Public Affairs, Hajia Fatima Sanda Usara, marks the 119th return flight from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria.
Arabi disclosed that during the first phase of the Hajj operation, NAHCON ran a total of 121 flights, which has now been reduced to 119 flights for the return journey.
He explained that the reduction in flights was attributed to the maximum utilization of seats during the return journeys, adding that the return journey ended “three days ahead of schedule being earlier planned to end by 19th of July 2024.”
“The commission’s chartered airlines took 27 days to transport all pilgrims into the Kingdom during the first phase of the Hajj journey, with the return phase now lasting 25 days.
“By the 25th day of the outbound flight from Nigeria, a total of 47,171 pilgrims were transported, while 50,091 were able to return to Nigeria within the same span of 25 days in the second phase,” the chairman stressed.
Speaking at a closing ceremony at the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah airport, Arabi expressed gratitude to the Almighty for the successful completion of the return journey and commended stakeholders for their cooperation and the pilgrims for their prayers for their leaders at federal and state levels.
The chairman urged them to continue praying for the success of their leaders and to maintain good conduct, describing this year’s Hajj achievements as a promise fulfilled.
While promising that the commission would achieve even greater success next year based on the lessons learned this year, he also assured that preparations for the 2025 Hajj have already begun.
In his remarks, the Amirul Hajj for Kwara State, Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, expressed his gratitude to the NAHCON chairman for his quick responses to issues.
Senator Oloriegbe who spoke in Yoruba and English Languages, appreciated the commission for its timely processing of visas and the convenient stay in Madinah not more than four days all within the first phase.
The Amirul Hajj on behalf of the pilgrims thanked Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, NAHCON and other Hajj officials from the states and stakeholders.