Abdullahi Muktar, Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria ( NAHCON ) has commended President Muhammad Buhari for relentlessly assisting the commission to accomplish its task.
Muktar made the commendation during a post Arafat meeting with stakeholders on Monday in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
He said the commendation became necessary in view of the tremendous support the commission received from the presidency which was instrumental to the successes recorded during the performance of the hajj rites in the holy land.
The chairman further thanked the government of Saudi Arabia for making all the necessary provisions that assisted in making the 2018 exercise a huge success.
The NAHCON chairman expressed satisfaction over the diligence and hard work exhibited by the commission’s staff during the exercise.
He, therefore, called on them to maintain the tempo in subsequent missions.
He commended state officials for good work in coordinating their pilgrims in good manners.
”The states have done wonderfully well in terms of coordinating pilgrims and Jamarat activities (pebble throwing rites) and environmental sanitation; we pray Allah rewards them all.
On her part, Sen Monsura Sunmonu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, thanked Almighty Allah ” for allowing us to witness this year’s Hajj”.
Sunmonu hailef NAHCON for a job well done by ensuring hitch-free exercise, adding that she passionately supported the entire operation and prayed Allah to continue to protect the country.
In a goodwill message, the Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, commended the progress achieved in this year’s hajj, adding that NAHCON made some notable achievements in the last three years.
He also appreciated the National Medical Team and clerics who guided the pilgrims.
“We hope that next year and beyond, Nigeria will be on the record of great country, ” he said.
While giving a brief on phase one of the hajj, Alhaji Sulaiman Usman, Director, Planning, Research, Statistics, Information and Library Service, NAHCON, said the feeding and animal sacrifices recorded incremental improvements.
He said 6000 people paid their money for sacrifice through Jaiz Islamic Development Bank.
He said the commission discovered that some illegal agents collected money for slaughtering animals but shared the crackers to themselves.
” We want to believe that those who paid to Jaiz also paid for transporting the meat to poor countries.”
On environmental sanitation, he said “food vendors at Nigeria’s tents contributed in making our tents as refuse dumps. This are the areas that we need to work on in future”.