As 17,200 out of the 95,000 Muslim pilgrims to this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia arrive home, the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) said in Abuja on Tuesday that it would still lift 20,000 prospective pilgrims for the 2009 pilgrimage to Israel.
Mr John Opara, the Executive Secretary of the NCPC, said that the lifting of the pilgrims was slow but that the commission was sure that the operation would end as scheduled.
Opara said the transportation of prospective pilgrims which started on November 14 had reached the third batch.
“We have entered the third batch of the entire operation. The flight had since left yesterday with the intending pilgrims from Kwara and Lagos states.
“We are continuing tomorrow with our flight taking part of Rivers State and some Abuja pilgrims from Abuja to Israel.
“God willing, before the end of the week, we will have rounded up the third batch of entire operation, meaning that we would have taken least 6,700 intending pilgrims to the state of Israel,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the national leader of the delegation to Saudi Arabia (Amir Hajj), Kanti Bello, said on Tuesday that 38 flights had been operated from Jeddah and assured pilgrims that he was working hard to accelerate the transportation of pilgrims back to Nigeria.
He said that he had met with officials of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and air carriers on modalities to intensify the operations and he threatened to sanction any defaulting airline.
Source African Press Agency
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