By Francis Nansak, Lafia
The Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, on Monday directed the State’s Muslims Welfare Pilgrims Board against allowing non-residents from performing holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia on the platform of the state.
Governor Sule handed down the directive while receiving the 2023 Hajj Report from the state Amir-ul-Hajj, Justice Aisha Bashir Aliyu, who is also the Chief Judge of the state, at the Government House, on Monday.
The governor said it is totally unacceptable and unfair to allow people from other states to use Nasarawa State as platform to perform Hajj considering the huge amount being expended to by the state government to subsidize the pilgrimage to the holy land.
He said that henceforth, only pilgrims who are resident in Nasarawa state should be permitted to use its platform to perform the Hajj.
To this end, the governor directed the board and management of the pilgrims welfare board, to put measures in place towards ensuring that only citizens of the state are allowed to pay for next year’s pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
“Our team and management need to understand, both the chairman and board members, as well as the Executive Secretary, anytime they bring people from other state, it means the state government is subsidizing to support people from other states.
“We have so many people from other states who have come to pay at our board. We should look at it carefully and in fact, we have to introduce measures to ascertain who is paying for pilgrimage. If we are allocated 2500 slots, if we have only 1200, so be it. Henceforth, it has to be 100 percent indigenes of Nasarawa State.
“If anybody wants to go on pilgrimage let him go to other states and not Nasarawa State.
“We are subsidizing this a lot and there is no need to take Nasarawa State’s money and take care of people from other states. I am not discriminating, I am just trying to be fair to our people,” he stated.
He commended the Amir-ul-Hajj, chairman, executive secretary, as well as board members, for the successes recorded during this year’s pilgrimage.