Hajj Group raises concern over non- issuance of visa

Less than a week to the planned airlifting of
intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, a non-
governmental organisation (NGO), Media
Awareness Initiative for Hajj (MAI-HAJJ),
has expressed worry over the delay in the
issuance of Hajj visa.
Daily Sun gathered that the airlifting of 76,
000 Nigerian pilgrims for the annual
pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia was fixed for Sep­
tember 6.
But in a statement made available to
newsmen yesterday by MAI-HAJJ and
signed by Messrs Garba Ubale Dambatta and
Muhammed Kabir Yusuff, president and
secretary respectively, the association
expressed dismay at the way Saudi
authorities reneged on its earlier stand to
start issuance of Hajj visa last Monday.
The group stated that at the
last Hajj
stakeholders meeting, organised by the
National Hajj Commission of Nigeria
(NAHCON), in Abuja, recently, a represen­
tative of Saudi Ambassador in Nigeria had
disclosed that issuance of Hajj visa would
commence last Monday. MAIHAJJ said non-
commencement of the issuance of Hajj visa
‘will no doubt affect the entire Hajj ar­
rangements of the Nigerian government,’
adding that urgent measures needed to be
taken ‘because records have shown that Hajj
visa, in the past, were issued two or three
weeks to the commencement of the airlift op­
eration.’
“The association is calling on President
Goodluck Jonathan and the Sultan of Sokoto,
Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad 111 to urgently
intervene in this matter and request Saudi
authorities to start issuing visas to 76,000
Nigerian pilgrims anxiously waiting to go and
perform their religious obligations.
Similarly, the association is calling on Saudi
government to grant all tour operators visas
that will enable them travel to Saudi Arabia
and conclude their final arrangement for the
airlift of their 10,000 pilgrims, the statement
read in part.