From Mustapha Adamu, Kano
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, has assigned Max Air as airline to airlift the 5,917 intending pilgrims of Kano state to Saudi Arabia during this year’s Hajj exercise.
Recall 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 a long time until last year when the then new leadership of NAHCON assigned Azman Air, the decision that was resisted by the state.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of the board, Muhammad Abba Dambatta, disclosed that the Hajj commission had assigned Max Air for this year’s Hajj operations.
He added that the airline is efficient and had three aircrafts with the capacity of more than 1,000 pilgrims each.
In the same vein, Dambatta also announced that the board had closed fresh Hajj registration in accordance with NAHCON’s directive.
According to him, the state’b pilgrims had exhausted all the almost 6,0000 slots allocated to it by the Hajj commission, adding that 4,900 intending pilgrims had paid their Hajj fare complete, while others, who deposited N2.5 million, would pay the remaining in the next couple of days.
The Executive Secretary also disclosed that the board is fully ready for this year’s Hajj, saying “ we have completed all preparations, ranging from accomodations, 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,” Dambatta assured.
