Guardian Nigeria
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has further extended his olive branch to this year’s hajj pilgrims by paying the $100 shortfall in their Basic Travel Allowance (BTA).
The state’s Commissioner for Home Affairs, Olanrewaju Ibrahim Layode, disclosed this while addressing the last batch of pilgrims before they departed from Lagos.
The Flynas Airline, which conveyed the last batch, touched down safely at the King AbdulAziz International Airport, Madinah, Saudi Arabia at 10.50 a.m. (Saudi Arabian time) yesterday.
Layode, who is also the Amir-ul-Hajj, told the pilgrims that immediately the attention of the governor was drawn to the development, he, in his kind-heartedness and magnanimity, approved the payment of the $100 shortfall for each of the 1,868 pilgrims pending the resolution of the matter by both the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He also reiterated that the governor would keep his promises by paying the cost of the Hadaya (sacrificial) ram, ziyyarah (visitation) to historical sites in Madinah and Makkah as well as monetization of the Ihram clothes for each of them.
The commissioner, who assured those on the first flight that their BTA would be paid in the Holy Land, appealed to them to be good ambassadors of the state by exhibiting exemplary conduct and behaviours.
He also urged them to pray for Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat’s administration and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for peace, progress and tranquillity in the country.
