The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has explained why it fixed different hajj fares for various states of the federation.
The Deputy Director, Information and Publication of NAHCON, Mousa Ubandawaki, made the clarification in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
He said for over two months, the commission had been working to ensure that the fare did not spiral out of the reach of average Nigerian Muslims, especially against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, bourgeoning inflation, and the depreciation of the naira against the dollar in the forex market.
He said that since the announcement of the final hajj fare for Nigerian pilgrims by the NAHCON boss, Zikrullah Hassan, a varied limited number of people had been asking questions about why the pilgrims from the states of the federation would have to pay different fares from the same country.
Thank goodness that the commission was able to keep the price below N3m against all these odds.
”At the inception of the screening of airlines for this year’s Hajj, the commission, through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, was made aware that tickets for air travel, including the chartered flight that Hajj carriers charged, was influenced by the nautical mile the aircraft covers.
”It is the reason why the air ticket for Maiduguri and Yola departure is much lower than all the other northern states as well as southern Nigeria due to its proximity to Saudi Arabia.”
