Kaduna Pilgrims Welfare Agency Executive Secretary, Dr Yusuf Yakubu
Alrigasiyyu, has called on Nigerian Immigration to provide the state with
more passport booklets to cater for 2,491 pilgrims the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) allocated to the state.
The Executive Secretary who made the call when he received a delegation led by Comptroller of Immigration Kaduna Command, O. Adapoyi, at his office on Thursday said there are lot of passport request waiting to be approved at the command.
He described immigration as a very important agency whose support the pilgrims agency needs to operate efficiently.
Alrigasiyyu also lamented over the security challenges around the Kaduna Airport, saying it’s the responsibility of the
agency to protect the lives and properties of the intending pilgrims.
He explained further that although the insecurity issue is not peculiar to Kaduna, the agency would ensure that all the screening exercise for intending pilgrims takes place at the Hajj Camp, Mando instead of the airport.
“We hope all agencies involved in the hajj operations in terms of screening our intending pilgrims will bring all their machines to hajj camp for the screening instead of doing so at the airport,’ he said.
He expressed readiness to work with the immigration so as to have a hitch-free hajj exercise in the state, pointing out that the state had secured best accommodation for the intending pilgrims in Makkah.
The State Comptroller Immigration, Adapoyi, assured the pilgrims agency that the request for
more booklets had been approved by the national headquarter of the Immigration Service, adding that there would be enough booklets in the state in the next few weeks.
