THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, (NAHCON) has assigned Max Air as the airline to airlift the 5,917 intending pilgrims of Kano state to Saudi Arabia during this year’s Hajj exercise.
Executive Secretary of the Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Muhammad Abba Dambatta, disclosed this at a press conference held in Kano.
He added that the airline is efficient and has three aircraft with the capacity that can airlift more than 1,000 pilgrims each.
This newspaper recalls that the decision of NAHCON to assign Azman Air to airlift the pilgrims of the state last year was greeted by huge criticism by the Kano state Pilgrims Welfare Board and the state government.
Max Air has been airlifting the state’s pilgrims to Hajj for long until last year when the then leadership of NAHCON assigned Azman Air, an action that was resisted by the state.
Similarly, Dambatta also announced that the board had closed fresh Hajj registration in accordance with NAHCON’s directive.
According to him, the state’s pilgrims had exhausted all the almost 6,000 slots allocated to it by the Hajj commission, adding that 4,900 intending pilgrims had completed payment of their Hajj fare, while others, who deposited N2.5 million each will pay the remaining in the next couple of days.
The Executive Secretary also disclosed that the board was fully ready for this year’s Hajj, saying “we have completed all preparations, ranging from accommodations, feeding, transportation from Jeddah to Makkah and Makkah to Madina.
“We are ready for airlift. We have made a good arrangement that justify the fee paid by our intending pilgrims. Our intending pilgrims will live a good live in Saudi Arabia.”
