Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board will on March 26, 2022 commence the first phase of its education and orientation exercise for intending pilgrims for this year’s hajj.
This was revealed by the board’s director, Mallam Muhammad Nasiru Danmallam, in a statement, yesterday, said Islamic scholars have already been mobilised for the exercise scheduled to take place at the permanent hajj camp located at Basan Jiwa close to the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja.
Danmallam explained that the exercise would be conducted in phases to enable the intending pilgrims to get enlightened on the hajj rites as well as new policies introduced for this year’s hajj by the Saudi authorities and National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) especially after two years hajj without intending pilgrims from Nigeria due to the outbreak of covid-19 that hindered the annual religious exercise.
He advised intending pilgrims from the territory for this year’s hajj to participate in all programmes organised by the board especially as the authorities may introduce new policies and guidelines for the performance of hajj after the covid-19 pandemic.
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The director said the board has mapped out strategies to assist them to attain acceptable hajj and was committed to ensuring that all the intending pilgrims comply with the rules and regulations put in place by relevant authorities for the exercise.
He also advised intending pilgrims who made deposits in respect of 2020 and 2021 hajj that could not take place to proceed to open a personal hajj saving account with Ja’iz Bank and provide the account details to enable the board to migrate their rolled over deposits into the new account as directed by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.
Danmallam disclosed that the board has already commenced the process of transferring the deposits of those who have already opened their personal Hajj Saving Account with Ja’iz Bank as directed by NAHCON.
He, therefore, warned all intending pilgrims who are yet to submit their account details or submit their International Passport to do so to enable the Board to commence the process of their travel documents as soon as a clear signal on the exercise is received from the relevant authority, emphasising that the Board would not relent in its effort to ensure the principle of first-come-first-served basis in selecting those that would participate in this year’s hajj exercise.