The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the request by pilgrims to be granted cash transactions for a seamless 2025 holy pilgrimage to Mecca. An official at the Presidency revealed that the development followed the intervention of Vice President Kashim Shettima, who appealed to President Bola Tinubu on behalf of the pilgrims, through the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
  
There had been concerns that the hitherto use of mandatory debit cards proposed by the CBN for the pilgrimage would endanger the smooth planning, operation, and performance at this year’s spiritual exercise.
 
Speaking with newsmen after a meeting with the Vice President, NAHCON’s Commissioner for Policy, Personnel Management & Finance, Aliu Abdulrazaq, confirmed that the CBN granted Nigerian pilgrims the opportunity of cash transactions for this year’s hajj.
  
He said: “The meeting was prompted by the policy of the Federal Government on the use of cards for Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) for 2025 Hajj operations. We have held a series of meetings before now. The Vice President intervened and invited the Central Bank’s Deputy Governor with a plea.  
  
“Out of the magnanimity of the CBN and appeal made by the Vice President, they dropped the idea of a card for pilgrims in the 2025 Hajj, and they conceded to people having cash instead of a card. This is a landmark achievement for NAHCON.
 
“If you go to Saudi Arabia, mostly the areas where the pilgrims are going to perform their rituals, there is only one Automated Teller Machine there, and it is always crowded – it poses so many difficulties for pilgrims to purchase whatever they want to purchase.  
  
“Secondly, 95 per cent of the pilgrims from Nigeria are peasant farmers, and they have difficulties with electronic payments. Even with the cash, some of them have difficulties identifying the currencies. These variables make it important for them to have the cash they are used to.”
  
Spokesman to Vice President Shettima, Stanley Nwokocha, in a statement yesterday, said the apex bank had earlier in the year, introduced a new payment method for Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) for Nigerians embarking on the 2025 hajj pilgrimage.

Under the revised system, each pilgrim would be issued an ATM card for withdrawals and transactions during the pilgrimage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The initiative made it mandatory for all intending pilgrims to open a BTA-linked bank account.
  
Adding his voice to the new development, NAHCON’s Secretary, Dr. Mustapha Muhammad Ali, clarified that the change is neither a concession nor a subsidy from the Federal Government.