Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR), a civil society organisation, has called on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to extend the March deadline for the registration of pilgrims for the 2018 hajj exercise.

The group observed that with less than 30 days to the deadline, “states pilgrims’ boards are yet to register 40 percent of the allocations given to Nigeria.”

Abdullahi Mukhtar, Executive Chairman of NAHCON, had announced during a meeting with the chairmen of State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board in Abuja, that the Saudi authorities had fixed end of May 2018 as the deadline for the closure of all hajj registration and closing of Saudi hajj registration portal. Consequently, NAHCON after meeting with the states pilgrims’ boards set March 31, 2018, deadline for the registration of Nigerian pilgrims to enable the country meet its obligations and to avoid unnecessary delays that could affect smooth hajj operation.

Saudi authorities allocated 95,000 slots to Nigeria for this year’s hajj exercise; with 70,000 distributed to state pilgrims and 20,000 to independent tour operators.

In a statement Sunday signed by the National Coordinator Ibrahim Muhammad and Publicity Secretary Abubakar Mahmoud, IHR said that extending the registration deadline will give intending pilgrims enough time to pay for the hajj seats.

“Though we understand that the deadline set by NAHCON was at the instance of Saudi Arabia 2018 hajj plan of concluding all hajj preparations before the commencement of Ramadan, part of the Saudi 2018 hajj guideline mandated hajj missions to meet its financial obligations to hajj service providers for numbers of allocation given to them to enable the kingdom perfect plans for 2018 hajj.

“The civil society is worried that failure to utilise 95, 000 hajj seat quota might lead to further reduction of Nigeria’s seats allocation by Saudi Arabia.

“For the sake of the comfort of the Muslim Ummah who want to fulfill their religious obligations, we, therefore, urge Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and NAHCON to extend the timeframe provided for the payment of 2018 hajj fare so as to allow our dear pilgrims to heed the call of Almighty Allah,” the statement said.

IHR also urged the country’s hajj authorities to extend its ongoing sensitisation on hajj payment to grassroots by involving community leaders, Islamic related NGOs, market union leaders, youth associations for maximum awareness.

According to the CSO, 80-85 percent of Nigerian pilgrims are farmers who cannot afford to harvest all the farm produce at once to pay for hajj seat at once. “This is the associated reasons why the 2018 hajj seat is experiencing slow responses,” it stated.