Ahead of Eid Al Adha celebrations, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has just concluded it’s tour around facilities in Mina , Arafat, and Muzdalifa in Makkah to determine the state of readiness ahead of commencement of final Hajj rituals next week.
This was disclosed by the Commission‘s coordinator of Makkah Office operations Aliyu Tanko during the facility tours.
Every year Muslims from all over the world participate in the ritual that takes place, over several days before eid al adha, which is centered in the holy city of Mecca.
But the pandemic in 2020 made the Saudi authorities to scale down foreign pilgrim populations by seventy percent .
This year Saudi authorities have allocated more slots to pilgrims from various countries.
With this, the Kingdom is expected to be filled with more pilgrims than the last two years.
It is why Saudi authorities set up an organization called Motawif to handle all hajj activities for Africans and non Arab countries.
The aim is to mobilize units for food , crowd control , housing , transportation, in order to ensure the pilgrims get best possible experience this year.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria in collaboration with Motawif took journalists on a tour to inspect facilities in Arafat , Mina, Muzdalifa where all hajj rites will be performed .
And leaders of Motawif shed light on their level of preparation for the task ahead .
Since it’s Nigeria’s first full hajj preparations after Covid 19 , the Commission wants all hands on deck to ensure Nigerian pilgrims get the best service .
The Commission also ensured that it’s field officers take part on the sensitization programme offered by the Motawif Organization on how to control the crowd and protect pilgrims from getting missing .
So far the Commission has airlifted over seventy one thousand Nigerian pilgrims but hope to wind up operations on 24th June 2023.
