Barring any last-minute changes, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON will officially announce the 2023 Hajj fare for Nigerian intending pilgrims tomorrow (Friday), Hajj Reporters can authoritatively report.
A highly placed source who Spoke to Hajj Reporters but declined to be quoted because he has no permission to speak to the media on the matter said NAHCON is already making final preparations towards the announcement.
Speaking further, our source said the computation of 2023Hajj fare has reached the final stage adding “barring any extra ordinary efforts in negotiation and persuasions by NAHCON for service providers to lower their price, the 2023 Hajj fare will not be less than N3.3 million naira based on current realities”
Speaking further, the source said “let’s be honest with ourselves, there is no way 2023 Hajj fare will be the same with that of 2022 based on the current reality of high prices of major Hajj services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For example, in 2022 States Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards were able to secure accommodation at the rate of 2,000 Saudi Riyals per bed space and the same accommodation has risen by 100 percent.
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“As we speak some states are still finding it difficult to secure accommodation that is not too far from the grand Mosque.”
Another source, who also declined to be named said the decision by Saudi Arabian authorities to demolition some of the buildings used as accommodation by many states within Misfala area, where over 70 percent of Nigeria pilgrims do stays has created serious challenges.
“There is also the increase in the cost of air ticket and the introduction of new charges by Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. The weakening of the naira against the US dollar has also impacted negatively on any payment that has to be made abroad by Nigerians not only in Hajj fare” the sources added.
Speaking to HAJJ REPORTERS, the Executive Secretary of Kano State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alh Muhammad Abba Dambatta said “there are many factors that leads to the unavoidable increase in the 2023 Hajj fare: According to him, there is increase in the Value Added Tax from 5 percent to 15 percent thereby causing a sharp increase in prices of goods and services in the Kingdom as well as the Saudi Vision 2030 which led to the demolition of some accommodations to pave way for new structures – that has raised the price of accommodations in Makkah and even forced states to sourced for accommodation far away from their normal locations. He also mentioned the increase in the number of pilgrims from less than 1 million in 2022 and now expecting over 3 million to perform Hajj 2023. Alh Dambatta further said the frustrating exchange rates also adds to the pressure on Hajj fare.
2023 Hajj Intending pilgrims from Nigeria have been waiting for NAHCON to announce the fare considering that the airlift of Nigerian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia may begin by the last week of May which is less than 60 days away.
States Muslim Pilgrims Boards had asked 2023 Intending pilgrims to pay a minimum deposit of N2.5 million pending the official announcement of 2023 #Hajj by NAHCON.
There has been a global widespread concern over the rising cost of hajj with some countries adopting different measures to remedy the high-cost of 2023 Hajj. Countries such as Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Ghana, Bangladesh, Jordan, Egypt has also experienced a significant increase in the 2023 Hajj fare.
