The Borno government said Saturday that it spent about N500 million toward the successful conduct of this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
File photo: Muslim pilgrims gather to pray at Mount Arafat near the holy city of Mecca during the annual pilgrimage. AFP PHOTO/FAYEZ
The state’s Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zannah Mustapha, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makkah.
Mustapha, who was the leader of the state’s Hajj Committee said that the money was used to secure good accommodation for the state pilgrims, as well as ensure good welfare for them.
He said that the state government provided a subsidy of 300 Saudi Riyals to each of the 2,645 pilgrims to enable them to perform the hadaya (slaugthering of animals during the Hajj).
The deputy governor added that the state government had remained steadfast in ensuring hitch-free Hajj in the past four years in spite of prevailing security challenges.
He thanked Gov. Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Gov. Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State for their assistance to the state during the transportation of Borno pilgrims to the Holy Land.
He said “we are appealing to the Federal Government to reopen the Maiduguri International Airport.
“We want the Federal Government to assist us by reopening the airport so as to avert the difficult situation the state found itself, especially the risky movement of pilgrims from Maiduguri to Jigawa and Kano for the airlift to the Holy Land.’’
