The Mecca pilgrims’ tragedy

WITH the casualty figures still increasing weeks after the calamity and the death toll now put at 1, 453 globally, the stampede at Mina in Saudi Arabia is a huge tragedy that should make humanity grieve. Described as the ‘deadliest ever,’ the stampede, at the last count, affected about 345 Nigerians, out of which 145 died, 35 were injured and 165 are still missing.

The magnitude of this tragedy is underscored by the fact that it is one of the worst in the history of pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Indeed the latest statistics points to its surpassing a similar stampede in 1990, in which 1, 426 people were killed. More disheartening is the fact that before the September 24, 2015 incident, there was a crane accident in which six Nigerians were among about 107 pilgrims who died.

The latest Mina stampede claimed the life of one of the most illustrious female journalists in Nigeria, Hajiya Bilikisu Yusuf. Other Nigerians confirmed dead include two justices of the Court of Appeal, Justice Abubakar Abdulkadir Jega, a brother of a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega and Justice Musa Hassan Alkali. Also killed were the Amirul Hajj of Taraba State, Alhaji Abbas Ibrahim and his two wives, a former local government caretaker chairman in Sokoto State, Alhaji Bello Gidan-Hamma and his mother, stepmother and two wives and an official of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Sadly, stampede-induced tragedies are becoming too commonplace in pilgrimages particularly to Mecca, when millions of Muslims converge on the Saudi holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the annual hajj. In 2006, more than 360 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at Mina where pilgrims carry out a symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing pebbles against three stonewalls.

The day before the hajj began, an eight-storey building being used as a hostel near the Grand Mosque in Mecca collapsed, killing at least 73 people. In 2004, about 244 pilgrims were crushed to death in Mina and hundreds injured on the final day of the hajj ceremonies. In 2001, a stampede at Mina during the final day of the pilgrimage ceremonies killed 35 hajj pilgrims. In 1998, about 180 pilgrims were trampled to death in panic after several of them fell off an overpass during the final stoning ritual at Mina.

In 1997, at least 340 pilgrims were killed in a fire at the tent city of Mina as the blaze was aided by high winds. More than 1, 500 were injured. In 1994, some 270 pilgrims were killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual at Mina. In 1990, the worst hajj-related tragedy claimed the lives of 1, 426 pilgrims in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca.

It would appear that despite the efforts of the Saudi authorities, the crowd of pilgrims tends to overwhelm the available facilities and security logistics. The tragedy is certainly pathetic. While the world mourns, steps need to be taken to avert future disasters of this nature. For the Saudi authorities, there is the need to deploy more effective strategies for crowd management.

Since the hajj ceremonies attract a huge crowd yearly, the preparations should be tighter and more accident-proof. The Saudi authorities should peg the number of pilgrims at a given hajj time. They can also bar pregnant women who are at risk in a stampede.

Countries whose citizens perform pilgrimage to Mecca also have a role to play in avoiding tragedies, for instance by limiting the number of pilgrims yearly. In Nigeria, one way to achieve this is for the government to stop sponsoring pilgrims. Besides the fact that pilgrimage should be a private and personal matter, most people will jump at free pilgrimage, no matter how many times they have performed the ritual.

Many Nigerians have trivialised the sanctity of the pilgrimage on account of free sponsorship. Many people go almost every year. There is need for a policy to discourage multiple hajj trips at the expense of those who have not performed the pilgrimage at all.

In the past, Saudi authorities had imposed some restrictions on countries, including Nigeria, as a crowd control measure. The latest tragedy is sufficient reason for such measures to be sustained. And Nigerian authorities should avoid sidetracking these measures. Officials should not abuse this public interest scheme.

Government should be concerned mainly with rendering consular services and providing administrative support to Nigerian pilgrims in Mecca. This is the purport of Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution, which bars government, whether at the federal or state level, from adopting any religion as state religion.  Government should, therefore, stop being an accomplice in the avoidable death of its citizens.

It is instructive that government, through the Hajj Commission, has been monitoring development on the Mina disaster and giving Nigerians updates, as unpalatable as these are. This should continue until every Nigerian who went to Mecca for this year’s pilgrimage is accounted for. Government should go further by making the outcome of its investigation on the issue public, as the lives of Nigerians should be accorded maximum dignity.