Niger intending hajj pilgrims to undergo ‘serious’ security screening

Tribune Online
Niger intending hajj pilgrims to undergo ‘serious’ security screening

INTENDING hajjis and hajjas from Niger State will undergo serious security checks to ensure that they are not carrying any illicit drugs and other contraband before departing for Makkah, Saudi Arabia, for the 2019 holy pilgrimage.

The director of operations of the state Pilgrims Welfare Board, Malam Attahiru Dukku, who disclosed this in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune in Minna, concealing of hard drugs and other banned substances would not be handled with laxity by the board in the course of this year’s airlift of pilgrims in the state.

“We always sensitise our intending pilgrims to the danger of carrying hard   drugs and other items prohibited by the Saudi Arabia authorities,” he noted.

Malam Dukku stated that the agency would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that no intending pilgrim from the state carries with them any prohibited items to the holy land.

He said about 1,800 seats had already been bought from the 3,946 allocated to the state by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), noting that the seats had  since been shared among the 25 local government areas of the state.

“Local governments like Mariga and Chanchaga have already exhausted the seats allocated to them. We are very optimistic that all the seats would be exhausted as and when due,” he said.

According to him, over 1,400 intending pilgrims from the state had already been captured without any hitches and the board had commenced training and sensitisation programmes to educate them on hajj rites and other activities in the holy land.

He disclosed that the board had designed a new plan to distribute hajj materials whereby hand luggage and uniforms would be handed to intending pilgrims immediately after the completion of the necessary procedures.

“So far, those that were through with the procedures have collected their hand luggage and the materials for uniforms,” he added.

Malam Dukku explained that all arrangements for accommodation, not far away from the Grand Mosque in Makkah, for this year’s exercise had been concluded, while that of Madinah had also been taken care of by NAHCON.

Niger intending hajj pilgrims to undergo ‘serious’ security screening
Tribune Online