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More Nigerian pilgrims arrive from hajj

By Shakirah Adunola
15 September 2017   |   1:40 am
As the family and friend of the 2017 hajj pilgrims anxiously await their arrival, there are indications that some more pilgrims such as Lagos State delegates will arrive from tomorrow.

As the family and friend of the 2017 hajj pilgrims anxiously await their arrival, there are indications that some more pilgrims such as Lagos State delegates will arrive from tomorrow.

Already, about 285 pilgrims under the coordination of Al-Hujaj Travels and Tour have arrived from Saudi Arabia on September 6th; Abdat Xpress also returned with 179 people this week and Med-View Travels Agency returned with 2,000 pilgrims.

Besides, the Lagos State Government said that it had commenced the weighing, tagging and loading of pilgrims’ luggage, with expectations that they will start arriving from tomorrow.Lagos State Government airlifted about 1,353 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the 2017 hajj exercise.

Speaking at Lagos House in Makkah in preparation for the first airlift of the pilgrims back to Nigeria after fulfilling the necessary rites of hajj, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Muftau Okoya, explained that the exercise would ensure that the luggage were not weighing more than the 32kg and 8kg as approved by the stakeholders in the hajj operation.

He, however, cautioned pilgrims not to carry Zam Zam water in their luggage as the Saudi Arabian Government had banned the water as part of personal luggage since provision had been made to give individual pilgrim five litters when they returned home.

Chairman of Airlifting /Luggage Committee, Abdul Rasheed Adeyemi, assured that luggage of 450 pilgrims scheduled for the first Lagos flight would undergo the structured screening, saying that the committee was not expecting any challenge concerning banned items, over weighing and orderliness during the exercise as enough sensitisation had been given to the pilgrims during various enlightenment programmes.

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