The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has assured that beginning from Wednesday, 12th July, 2023, all the Nigerian licensed carriers would begin to operate their in-bound flight to Nigeria optimally.
This was the outcome of the high level meeting between (NAHCON) and the Saudi authorities, General Authority on civil Aviation (GACA) on the slow pace of the airlift operation.
The Deputy Director, Information and Publications, Ubandawaki made these clarifications in a statement.
With this situation, the statement explained, “Max Airline with three aircrafts on its fleet will be able to operate all the aircraft to Nigeria everyday, the same with Aero Contractors, Air peace, Azman and Arik Air which is dedicated to the airlift of private tour operators.
“The new development is expected to ease the strain on the agitation of Nigerian pilgrims who have been anxious to return to Nigeria since the conclusion of the Hajj rites on the 30th june.
“It will also increase the pace of the airlift operation which have been bogged down by non-availability of slots to the Nigerian licensed carriers especially by the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority.
The Commission, the statement added has been disturbed about the situation which solution it had been battling with since the commencement of the second phase of the airlift operation.
The GACA has refused to allot slots to the Nigerian airlines to speed up the return of pilgrims back home.
Several representation, meetings were held. The intervention of the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Amb.Dauda Yahaya Lawal achieved little success until the issue was escalated to the highest level of Government before the situation was finally resolved, it added.
Ubandawaki disclosed further that thus far, only 26 flights have recorded on the in-bound airlift operation with the highest shuttle operated by the Saudi- owned Flynas which operated more than 2/3 of the flights.
Meanwhile, pilgrims from Kwara state that are presently in Mecca are lamenting that they have been abandoned after spending forty days in the holy land when the proper Hajj exercise had ended.
A cross section of pilgrims who spoke with Voice Of Nigeria from Mecca claimed they were not being catered for as most of them sleep in the open space due to lack of proper care.
They also claimed that they are now out of funds which had led them to scramble for free food which they queue for, a situation that they described as highly dehumanising and embarrassing .
According to them, out of the twelve minimal batches scheduled by the airlines to embark upon to airlift the 3,746 pilgrims airlifted from Kwara State by the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board for the 2023 Hajj, only one flight with just 272 had been transported which is not encouraging.
Similarly, they lamented that some of them had fallen sick as a result of lack of proper medical care while most of the officials of Hajj had disappeared to the thin air and abandoned the pilgrims to their faith.
They even claimed that some of the agitated pilgrims had to engage in physical combat with officials of the board and reigned curses on them which is against the teachings of the holy pilgrimage.
The agitated pilgrims have therefore appealed to the Nigerian Government and the state governments as well authorities concerned to urgently address what they described as ugly, embarrassing and pathetic situation and look into how to tidy future Hajj operations in the country.
However, in his swift reaction, the Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam explained briefly in a WhatsApp message that no Kwara Pilgrim is stranded and that,“we have a flight early midnight today, (Tuesday) and another one tomorrow (Wednesday) in Sha Allah.”
