file photo
By Ahmed Ahmed
Bauchi state government has fixed July 18th for the airlift of the first batch of intending pilgrims for the 2019 Hajj exercise from the state.
The acting Executive Secretary of the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board (MPWB) Alhaji Kasim Danlami Shall disclosed this at the closing ceremony of Hajj Training session on Sunday in Bauchi.
Danlami Shall said, the airlift of the state intending pilgrims are expected to commence a week after the flagging off of the exercise on the July 10th by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
Mr Shall who was represented by the Director Education and Enlightenment of the board Alhaji Bala Ibrahim said the board has commenced the distribution of 8-kilogram travellers’ bags and Hajj uniform to the state pilgrims.
He called on the intending pilgrims from local government areas to contact their hajj affairs officers for the collection of the materials.
The acting E.S called on the intending pilgrims to refrain from taking with them food items and other materials banned by the Nigerian and Saudi Arabian authorities.
He stressed that intending pilgrims luggage’ bags would undergo thorough search at the hajj camp and the Airport.
Danlami Shall said the state government had secured a befitting accommodation for the state pilgrims in Mecca, stressing that while accommodation in Medina is purely the responsibility of the Federal Government.
Earlier, the chairman of the Association for the Enlightenment of Muslim intending Pilgrims Ahaji Isa Garba Rabi’u Ningi, thanked the state Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board for its support which paved way for the numerous achievements recorded by the association.
Ningi said the association has so far trained over 11,000 intending pilgrims since it was established in 2007.
He, however, called on the state government to consider members of the association in the appointment of pilgrims guides for the success of hajj operation in the state.
