Pilgrimage: Senate Seeks N200 To Dollar Rate for NAHCON And NCPC

The Senate has appealed to the Executive arm of government to give N200 to the dollar concession to the National Hajj Commis­sion of Nigeria (NAHCON) and the Nigeria Christian Pil­grims Commission (NCPC) once in every year.
It said that it was for pil­grimages to the respective holy lands for Muslims and Christians.

This was part of the rec­ommendations by the Com­mittee on Foreign Affairs on “The Extortion of Pilgrims by the National Hajj Commis­sion of Nigeria” presented by the Chairman, Senator Mon­surat Sunmonu, at plenary.
The committee recom­mended the concession to bring down the cost of the pil­grimages to a bearable level.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Senate had in a motion on June 7, 2017, urged the Fed­eral Government to review downwards, the 2017 Hajj fare.
Part of the 10-point recom­mendations by the committee was that the Federal Govern­ment should hold discussions with Saudi Arabia authorities.
Sunmonu said that the consultation with the Saudi government was to review the 50-50 carriage of pilgrims between Nigeria and Saudi Arabian airlines.
“This is with a view to pro­viding opportunities for more indigenous Nigerian airlines to participate in the Hajj op­erations. This will give Nigeria varieties in choosing the air carrier.
“The National Hajj Com­mission of Nigeria should ex­pedite action on the establish­ment of Hajj Savings Schemes in compliance with Section 7(1 and 2) of the NAHCON Act.
“The Nigeria Government and its economic team must do everything possible to im­prove on the Nigerian mon­etary policy which would expectedly, guarantee a long-time stable relationship of the Naira with other currencies,” she said.