The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has commenced biometric data registration for intending pilgrims from the 23 local government areas of Kaduna state as prerequisite for issuance of visa to Saudi Arabia.
The exercise which was conducted at the Kaduna state Muslim Welfare Board at the weekend signifies the commencement of 2019 Hajj exercise in the state and country at large.
Addressing newsmen on the update of the biometric, the board’s Public Relations Officer, Yunusa Abdullahi, said about 1,500 pilgrims from seven local government area of the state including Zaria, Sabon Gari, Kajuru, Chikun, Kaduna North and Kaduna South have been captured.
He explained that failure of pilgrims to participate in the biometric data capture will disqualify them from performing the hajj this year.
“It’s a new innovation introduced by Saudi Arabian authorities to ease visa processes for intending pilgrims. We advised other intending pilgrims to approach the board before the end of the exercise because the exercise already commenced days ago.
“All we know is that the process has enhanced the processing of visa for intending pilgrims and we hope by the end of next week we would have registered all the intending pilgrims,” he said.
He said registration of intending pilgrims is ongoing disclosing that so far, 2,200 intending pilgrims out of 6,636 hajj seats allocated to the state have been registered.
