“The promise for support which was provided by the government was announced in the presence of reporters during the inauguration of the board and management of the hajj commission, which was held at the Office of the Vice President on February 28, 2024.”
The source said the NAHCON had also contacted state governors to subsidise the hajj fare for the intending pilgrims in their respective states.
“By the previous calculation, the N90 billion given by the federal government can only subsidise 19,000 intending pilgrims by ₦3.5 million. But by spreading it on 50,000 pilgrims, it reduces it to N1.9 million; meaning that the federal government has subsidised each pilgrim by ₦1.6 million before each intending pilgrim was asked to add the remaining N1.9 million,” the source further explained.
A presidency source, who also spoke to Daily Trust on Thursday, said it was true that the federal government had provided what he called a “huge financial support” for this year’s hajj exercise.’
Asked to confirm whether the federal government released up to N90 billion as support for the pilgrimage, the official simply said: “that might not be far from the truth.”
He added, “Of course, the federal government has offered support for the pilgrims because the pilgrims have been lamenting.
“Normally, any support that the government is giving to any faith, whether the Christian faith or the Muslim faith, the government does not like to announce it openly so that it will not appear as if the government is favouring one faith,” he added.
When contacted, NAHCON’s spokesperson, said: “The intervention of the federal government for NAHCON can’t be quantified monetarily and we are still calculating. By the time we determine whatever the government has done, we will let everybody know.”
Kano subsidises Hajj fare with N1.4bn
Daily Trust had reported on Thursday that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf had approved a subsidy of N500,000 for each of the intending pilgrims from the state.
The Director General, Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Lamin Dan Baffa, disclosed this during a media briefing in Kano.
According to him, the state government will pay a total sum of N1.4 billion for the 2,096 registered pilgrims.
Dan Baffa added that with this subsidy, intending pilgrims should now pay N1.4 million instead of N1.9 million.
He said the subsidy was extended only to those who had paid the initial hajj fare of N4.7 million and were duly registered.
Daily Trust
