Over 18,000 Nigerian Hajj Pilgrims Airlifted

National Hajj Commission of Nigeria  (NAHCON) has said a total of 18,906 pilgrims have been airlifted for the 2024/1445 Holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

The agency disclosed this yesterday in a Day 11 airlift update.

The airlifting of the aforementioned number of pilgrims had taken place in 45 flights.

Twenty-three states in Nigeria have yet to commence the airlift of their pilgrims for the 2024 Hajj.

NAHCON on its X handle, #nigeriahajjcom gave the update.

A post shared earlier gave a pictorial breakdown of the total number of already airlifted pilgrims per state, flight and gender.

“Today, Air Peace flight APK7920 departed from Lagos to Madinah at 11:45hrs, carrying 298 pilgrims from Edo State. The group consists of 162 males and 136 females.

“This flight marks a significant milestone in the ongoing pilgrimage airlift operations. To date, a total of 18,906 pilgrims have been transported across 45 flights,” it read.

The information was confirmed by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria Command and Control Center in Abuja.

As of today, 23 states in Nigeria have yet to commence the airlift of their pilgrims for the 2024 Hajj.

The states that have not started airlifting pilgrims include Zamfara, Taraba, Sokoto, Rivers, Ondo, Niger, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Imo, Gombe, Enugu, Ekiti, and Edo.

Others are Ebonyi, Delta, Cross River, Borno, Benue, Bayelsa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, and Abia.

Conversely, 14 states have successfully airlifted a percentage of their pilgrims.

Notably, Kogi, the Armed Forces, and Oyo have completed 100% of their airlift operations.

Oyo and Nasarawa are at a 99 per cent completion rate, followed by Yobe at 64 per cent, Plateau at 66 per cent, Kebbi at 93 per cent, Osun at 79 per cent, Lagos at 85 per cent, Kwara at 20 per cent, Kaduna at 11 per cent, FCT at 71 per cent, Bauchi at 81 per cent, and Adamawa at 17 per cent.

Additionally, the Armed Forces have airlifted a total of 400 pilgrims in a single flight.

In a related development, earlier in March, NAHCON released a list of previously registered pilgrims. Out of the 95,000 slots allocated to Nigeria, only 48,414 intending pilgrims from across the 36 states, the FCT, and the Armed Forces have paid the previous average price of N4.8 million.