Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board will commence the registration of intending pilgrims for the 2018 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in all the 23 local government areas of the state on Wednesday, November 15, 2017.

A statement issued on Sunday by Yunusa Muhammad Abdullahi, Public Relations Officer of the Board, said the Board has advised intending pilgrims to present themselves physically during the exercise because registration by proxy will not be allowed.

The statement said that intending pilgrims are to pay a minimum of N800,000 as deposits in a designated bank account of the Board.

“However, old timers who have performed the hajj in the last three years must agree to pay additional 2,000 Saudi Riyals or its equivalent before being registered in line with Saudi Arabian authorities’ new guidelines,” the statement added.

The statement also quoted the Overseer of the Board, Imam Hussaini Sulaiman Tsoho Ikara, as warning that intending female pilgrims would only be registered when they come along with male guardians (Mahram) in line with Saudi Arabian government’s regulations, while pregnant women and old people with nobody to accompany them will not be registered.

Imam Hussaini who addressed Registration Officers at the premises of the Pilgrims Board, warned them to adhere strictly to the registration guidelines.

The statement said that all intending pilgrims must have guarantor before been registered, in order to avoid pilgrims absconding in the Holy Land, adding that the guarantors should be a Jumu’at Mosque Imam, a District Head or a Civil Servant not below level 12.