*Photo L-R: Sheikh Momoh, Alhaji Hardawa at a briefing in Makkah on Saturday*
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has appealed to Nigerian pilgrims to remain calm as the Commission was doing everything possible to ensure their timely evacuation back to Nigeria after the Hajj exercise.
This was just as the Commission urged pilgrims to be mindful of the hygienic state of the food they purchase from vendors.
NAHCON made the appeals on Saturday in Makkah, at a press press briefing addressed by
the Commissioner Operations, Alhaji Abdullahi Magaji Hardawa and Sheikh Suleiman Momoh, Commissioner Planning, Research, Statistics, Information and Library Services(PRSILS).
On the airlift of pilgrims back home, Alhaji Hardawa said a hitch was brought into the process by the Saudi new policy of the usage of Madinah Airport instead of Jeddah Airport as was the practice the previous years.
He lamented that the decision was taken without due consultation with the Commission, adding that this created logistic problems.
The Commissioner however
said the issues have been resolved as already, pilgrims billed to take off from Madinah between the 5th and 6th of this month have been evacuated and from the 7th, all flights back home would be through the Jeddah Airport.
In his own address, Sheikh Momoh called on Nigerian pilgrims to stop patronising roadside food vendors.
He noted that some pilgrims were already down with diarrhea and dysentery because of the unhygienic food they bought from the road.
Saying that a lot of money was being deployed to treat their ailments, Sheikh Momoh urged pilgrims to confine themselves to the food provided the authorised and certified food vendors.
