From Ahmad Mohammed Bauchi
The National Hajj Commission (NAHCOM) has said that all pilgrims would pay the sum of N163, 000 each which is equivalent to 2, 000 riyals as tax to Saudi Arabian Government this year.
This is even as it said the Saudi authorities have barred pilgrims from introducing political forum or campaigning for any aspirant or political party while in the Holy Land.
Executive Chairman of the Commission Barrister Abdullahi Muktar represented by Commissioner Operation in the Commission, Abdullahi Modibbo Saleh stated this yesterday in Bauchi during a sensitization workshop for 2018 intending pilgrims held at Bauchi Central Mosque.
He said the introduction of taxes and other innovations raised the tentative Hajj fare from about N1 million paid in 2017 to N1.5 million paid by pilgrims last year”
Mukhtar disclosed that intending pilgrims that succeed in completing the payment would go for bio-metric data capture in three centres across the country.
The chairman said that “the Saudi authority has come up with another policy this year which demands that all pilgrims should do biometric registration in their respective countries as against last year when they did it at the Holiday Land,
Three centres in Abuja, Lagos and Kano states have been designated for the biometric data registration in Nigeria.
“But we are appealing to the authorities in Saudi Arabia for more centres in all the 36 states of Nigeria so as to make things easier for our pilgrims. “
Muktar urged intending pilgrims yet to pay their hajj fares to do so while those who made part payments should complete them before the end of this month.
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