- ….counsels Nigerians pilgrims to be law-abiding
Nigeria has appealed to the Saudi authorities to increase the country’s pilgrims quota which, in recent years, appears, to be inadequate.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Yahaya Lawal made the appeal on Thursday, at the meeting of Organization of Islamic Countries, OIC, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The envoy said this is in view of the increase in demand for Hajj seats each year from Nigerians wishing to undertake the religious journey.
He equally called on the authorities to include Nigeria in the Makkah Router initiative, which presently has seven countries as beneficiaries.
Alhaji Yahaya said Nigeria is presently the fourth or fifth country with the largest number of pilgrims that participate in Umrah and Hajj exercises in the Kingdom, year-in, year-out.
The envoy further reiterated his earlier advice to Nigerian pilgrims to be good ambassadors of their country and religion by being law abiding for ease of interaction.
He enjoined pilgrims to make maximum use of their Allah’s given opportunity to maximize their temporal and spiritual benefits of the pilgrimage.
Alhaji Yahaya Lawal also called on the pilgrims to diligently utilise facilities put in place to ensure their comfort, wellbeing and ease of performing the Hajj rites and other religious activities.
