Saudi Arabia has finally allocated 43,800 seats to Nigeria for the 2022 Hajj, it was learned on Wednesday.
Of this number, 8,760 (representing 20 percent) would be for private tour operators, leaving the reminder of 35,400 to the state pilgrims boards.
This is against the 95,000 seats allocated to the country before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Saudi authorities had banned foreign pilgrims from hajj in 2020 and 2021.
However, even when Nigeria had 95,000 hajj seats allocation (75,000 for states and 20,000 for tour operators), 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that the country hardly utilises the total allocation.
In 2019 for instance, only little over 60,000 Nigerian pilgrims performed the hajj at the holy land.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) would issue an official statement shortly.
