Major stakeholders in the conduct of the Hajj 2022 operations met on Tuesday in Muna to agree on measures for a successful exercise.
The meeting was attended by Saudi officials in charge of transportation and Jamrat (sites of pelting of the devil), security representatives and different Hajj companies for pilgrims from non-Arab African countries.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this strategic review planning was to take measures for a smooth movement of the no fewer than one million pilgrims from one religious point to the other.
The exercise has no fewer than 2.5 million to three million pilgrims participating yearly; but this year being the first after two years of COVID-19 hiatus, only one million pilgrims were allowed.
The places where discussions centred around include Muna where pilgrims would stay for the night, Arafat where pilgrims stay for the day and leave to Muzdalifa for some parts of the night before coming back to Makkah.
These places are most significant in the performance of the Hajj that all pilgrims must observe at the same time and in the same location in order to perfect the exercise.
The meeting agreed on the routes and time that designated buses for countries and states would pick pilgrims, the number of pilgrims per bus and schedule of time for the pick-up.
The meeting, which takes place every year before the days of the Hajj, was to ensure the safety, comfort and total concentration of the pilgrims on the holy exercise.
Malam Idris Al-Makura, Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, told NAN that the meeting had further enlightened Hajj officials on how to guide their pilgrims during and after Hajj days.
‘’We will take this our decisions to our other members of the pilgrims boards and stress the importance for them to enlighten their pilgrims on the measures and the need for strict adherence for a hitch free Hajj,’’ he told NAN.
Al-Makura, who is also the Chairman Forum of State Executive Secretaries, said that decisions would reduce the discomfort faced by pilgrims because of the large of number of people involved in the religious exercise.
Hajj is a religious obligation with a journey to the Holy Kaaba, pilgrims perform a ritual that dates to pre-Islamic days and was sanctified by the Prophet.(NAN)
