Buhari orders NAHCON to account for all Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the National Hajj Commission and the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to urgently account for all Nigerian pilgrims in the aftermath of last Thursday’s disaster at Mina.

They are to possibly take a head count of all Nigerians who had embarked on this year’s hajj pilgrimage.

The Presidential directive follows conflicting reports on the number Nigerians who died or suffered injuries in the catastrophe which claimed well over 700 lives.

The Hajj Commission had on Monday confirmed that atleast 54 Nigerians died in Thursday’s stampede in Saudi Arabia, in which over 717 pilgrims from around the world, died.

The chairman of the National Hajj Commission, Abdullahi Mukhtar, at a press conference Monday, said the dead are from Bauchi, Borno, Cross Rivers, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Nasarawa states. Others are from Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states.

A statement by Presidential Media Aide Shehu Garba said the President is very concerned that days after the unfortunate incident, some Nigerian families are still grappling with painful uncertainty over the fate of their relatives who traveled to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj.

” The President expects the National Hajj Commission to work with the various state pilgrim boards, Islamic organisations and private travel agencies involved in Hajj operations to speedily provide a confirmed and verifiable report on the status of every Nigerian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia” he said.

President Buhari has also directed the Hajj Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to give all necessary assistance to Nigerians who are still receiving treatment for injuries suffered in Mina.

He continues to pray that Almighty Allah will receive the souls of the dead, comfort bereaved families, heal the injured and bring all surviving Nigerian pilgrims safely home.