National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed that 30 Nigerian pilgrims died performing this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NAHCON, Jalal Ahmad Arabi, disclosed this, yesterday, during a post-Hajj media briefing in Abuja.

Generally, more than 1,000 pilgrims lost their lives during the recently concluded 2024 hajj due to excessive heat wave.

Arabi stated that the Commission did all it could to ensure that pilgrims were protected. Unfortunately, Nigeria lost 30 citizens out of which five died of heat wave.

NAHCON boss, however, thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for coming to the aid of the Commission with the N90 billion intervention, which, he said, helped to reduce the burden of the fluctuating foreign exchange rates at the time.

He said: “One of the greatest challenges we faced during this year’s hajj was the skyrocketing of the exchange rate due to government policy to float the naira.

“Recall that by the final deadline of February 12, the unforeseen spike in foreign exchange rates had totally complicated matters, necessitating fresh adjustment of the year’s Hajj fare from the initially announced N4.9 million.

“We are grateful to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his swift approval of N90 billion instead.”