Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima has counseled the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, for conducting a profitable 2023 Hajj operations regardless of many challenges confronted by the Commission.
VP Shettima gave the commendation on Wednesday, when he obtained briefing from the administration of NAHCON led by the chairman, Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan on the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Vice President stated; “We have to offer praises to Allah for the successful conduct of 2023 hajj, in spite of harsh conditions faced by the people in the Saudi Arabia occasioned by the climate change and other factors. The temperature rose to unimaginable level, though Nigeria was not the only country affected by the effect of the climate change.”
While commiserating with the households of the 29 pilgrims who died in the course of the 2023 hajj, Vice President Shettima urged the Commission “to learn lessons from the last Hajj operations and gird our loins and make efforts to address all the short comings in the upcoming hajj operations.”
Welfare
Speaking on the welfare of 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims that carried out hajj final 12 months, Vice President Shettima stated that “the well-being of the pilgrims is at the core of the pilgrimage and as such the Commission must give it the priority it deserves.”
He suggested the administration to make sufficient preparations to handle the pilgrims, noting that although it’s a non secular train, the Commission should not neglect the consolation of pilgrims all through their keep within the holy land.
Emphasising on the necessity to develop a mechanism to curtail the challenges confronted by the folks, the Vice President acknowledged that “It is absolutely essential that we review this mechanism and make it practical and effective to give us maximum success in managing the hajj operations from year to year.”
Exchange Rate
On the issue of the volatility of the alternate fee on the Commission’s funds which was brought on by the unification of the completely different foreign exchange home windows, the VP suggested the administration to be proactive because it prepares for the long run.
“You have to rigorously review your exchange rate and come up with a much more acceptable figure,” he stated.
The Vice President additionally counseled the Commission on the assorted initiatives to additional improve its actions particularly the launching of Hajj Savings’ Scheme, the Hajj Institute of Nigeria and Public Private Partnership Arrangements for Kano, Lagos, Maiduguri and Ilorin Projects.
Earlier throughout his briefing, Chairman of NAHCON, Alhaji Hassan stated that final the 12 months’s hajj was profitable largely because of the immediate airlift of pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the provisions of lodging to pilgrims, feeding and environment friendly medical providers in any respect phases of the hajj actions.
Recently President Bola Tinubu had put the supervision of NAHCON beneath the Office of the Vice President.
