The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has contracted the transportation of 35,000 Nigerian pilgrims from Madinah to Makkah to a Madinah-based transport company, Hafil.
The Commission’s Coordinator for the 2019 Hajj in Madinah, Alhaji Ahmed Maigari, announced this to journalists while inspecting the buses (Ankai 2019/2020 model) on Wednesday in Madinah.
He said the vehicles had all it takes to give the pilgrims the comfort they needed, adding that they contained refrigerator, wi-fi and toilets among other facilities.
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Maigari said the transportation would begin with 3,801 pilgrims from Katsina and Lagos States with a repeat on Friday with the two states.
Earlier, the Manager, Madinah branch of the transporting company, Talal Sheriff, assured the commission that Hafil “is 100 per cent ready to convey the pilgrims to Makkah with all the comfort attached’’.
Later, Maigari told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that 9,735 pilgrims have so far been transported from Nigeria by air to Madinah as at Wednesday with Zamfara being the latest state to arrive in Madinah.
The transportation of pilgrims from Nigeria started with Katsina State on July 10. (NAN)