At least
N136.5bn has been spent on Hajj in 2017 by state governments and individuals
despite the current recession in the country,Saturday PUNCH investigation
has
revealed.
According to
the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, no fewer than 91,000 Nigerians had
arrived in Saudi Arabia out of the over 1.7 million foreign pilgrims in the
country to perform this year’s Hajj. Meanwhile, the average Hajj fare approved
by NAHCON to states for each traveller is N1.5m.
For example,
information made available by NAHCON showing the approved 2017 Hajj seats and
fares per state disclosed the package for travellers from Nasarawa State as
N1,544,659.85; Niger, N1,525,483.30; Ondo, N1,485,096.07; Katsina,
N1,498,502.70; Bauchi, N1,523,122.41; Plateau, N1,529,036.80; Sokoto,
N1,521,461.65; and Kwara, N1,501,571.27, among others.
Therefore,
at an average fare of N1.5m, 91,000 Nigerians would have spent a minimum of
N136.5bn on the exercise, with part of it coming from public purse provided by
state governments.
Although
going on Hajj at least once in a lifetime is one of the five pillars of Islam,
the Quran described it as a religious obligation that is meant for the faithful
who can afford it. Meanwhile, visiting Jerusalem for pilgrimage is not an
obligation for Christians.
However,
state governments have been sponsoring people to Mecca and Jerusalem for
pilgrimage andSaturday PUNCHhas information that Katsina, Bauchi, Plateau and
Sokoto states had sponsored people on pilgrimage this year.
For
instance, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State recently disclosed that his
administration had been subsidising Hajj exercise for Muslims with N1bn
annually.
Masari,
while inaugurating an 18-member board for the Katsina State Pilgrims’ Welfare
Board, had said no amount spent on religious activities could be considered as
too much and described pilgrimage to Mecca as “neither a picnic nor a holiday,
but an act of worship, as enshrined in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet
Muhammad.”
Similarly,
the Bauchi State Government spent over N262,650,000 as subsidy on the state’s
Muslim pilgrims to this year’s Hajj.
Governor
Mohammed Abubakar had disclosed this while delivering his farewell address to
3,090 pilgrims, where he boasted that the state could afford the sponsorship
despite economic recession.
“Despite the
economic hardship situation, this administration has continued to fund the
operation of the state Pilgrims Welfare Board, both at home and at the holy
land, so as to guarantee your comfort and satisfaction.
“We have
also subsidised the cost of your accommodation in Mecca, upon which the
government had to pay at least the sum of 850 Saudi Riyals (N85,000) for each
of you so that you will be accommodated in a beautiful edifice close to the
Haram,” Abubakar had said.
Also this
year, the Plateau State Government went back on its 2015 decision to no longer
sponsor both Muslims and Christians on pilgrimage due to the dwindling economic
fortune of the state.
It was
reported that the state government had sponsored 616 Muslims for the 2017 Hajj,
with the state governor, Simon Lalong, saying at a farewell ceremony for the
pilgrims from the state that the state government was willing to make the
“sacrifice as a result of the relevance of holy pilgrimage to the citizens of
the state.”
The Sokoto
State Government had spent N91m to sponsor 90 Islamic clerics to the lesser
Hajj in June.
The state
Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Mani Katami, had also announced that
each of the benefiting clerics was entitled to a Basic Travelling Allowance of
N250,000.
State
governments’ sponsorship of pilgrimage has been going on for long. Last year,
the Executive Secretary, Taraba State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji
Umar Leme, said the state government had released N288.5m to sponsor about 166
persons on Hajj.
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