By Bashir Mohammed
Kano
The Kano state Pilgrims Welfare Board said it has remitted N4 billion to National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) as part payment for this year’s Hajj seats allocated to the state.
The Board’s Permanent Secretary, Malam Abba Yakubu, disclosed this at a two-day capacity building workshop organised for staff of the board in Kano.
He said the money was remitted to the commission to enable it commence preparation for the upcoming Hajj operation.
“The amount remitted to the commission is part payment for the Hajj seats allocated to the state by NAHCON this year”, he said.
He said the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria had allocated 6,602 seats to Kano state which had since been sold to intending pilgrims in the 44 Local Government Areas.
He disclosed that the board had also commenced screening of the intending pilgrims at the 16 designated centres as part of effort to ascertain their health status.
He said the mandatory screening being conducted, was in compliance with the NAHCON’s directive to all the pilgrims welfare boards in the country.
“The part of the screening is to ensure that old persons have relations that will accompany them while women must have (muharrams) male partners that will accompany them to the Holy Land, “he said.
On the training workshop, the permanent secretary said the training was aimed at improving the skills of the staff for effective service delivery.
According to him, the board had also sponsored the training of five of its staff on Lesser Hajj operations organised by the International Air Transport Agency (IATA).
He charged staff of the board to be computer literate in view of the new reforms being introduced by the Commission as we as to enable them meet global challenges.
