Taraba spends N288m on sponsorship of 166 pilgrims to Saudi
Alhaji Umar Leme, the Executive Secretary of Taraba Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, said the state government released N288.5 million to sponsor about 166 intending pilgrims for the 2016 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
He said the gesture of Governor Darius Ishaku administration was to assist the less privileged Muslims to perform one of the major pillars of Islam.
Leme who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jalingo, commended Ishaku for his support in ensuring a successful hajj operation.
He said that 1,300 pilgrims from Taraba would perform the hajj, adding that about N1.1billion had already been paid to the National Hajj Commission as fees for the intending pilgrims.
Leme said that 500 additional seats were allocated to the state, adding that people were not forthcoming to pay.
According to him, about 1,080 passports have so far been sent to the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Kano, and that preparation were at advanced stage of completion.
Leme said that the board had secured befitting accommodation for all the pilgrims in both Makkah and Madinah, while new caterers have been engaged.
He warned pilgrims against contravening Saudi Arabian laws.
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3 Comments
Religion and its costs should be a private thing and not loaded on the states or federal government. The amount spent on religious trips and expenses could be better utilized in form of providing critical infrastructures, industrialization, development and education. If one likes; perform Hajj or go to Jerusalem every year, if one is lazy, uneducated and lacks progressive ideas, one will remain on one spot, stunted and underdeveloped and non performing. God/Allah does not help the lazy. “Performance is ones reality, forget everything else.”
This is insane, in a state where poverty is alarming. Heaven should be individual responsibility and not tax payers money.
In a state that cannot pay workers salary? You want to see dumbness of a people, please visit Nigeria.
We will review and take appropriate action.