The Daura Zonal Pilgrims’ Office in Katsina State on Thursday said it had been allocated 371 slots by the state’s Pilgrims Welfare Board, ahead of Hajj 2019.
Alhaji Saminu Baure, the Zonal Pilgrims Officer, gave the figure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Daura.
He said that out of the allocation, 175 of the hajj seats are for Daura Local Government Area; 57 seats for Baure; 71 for Maiadua; 35 for Sandamu; while Zango LGA got 43 seats.
Baure said that his office had, since November 2018, started collecting deposits of minimum of N300,000 from intending pilgrims.
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“We now accept between N500,000 and N1.5 million as deposits, pending the determination of the final Hajj fare from the pilgrims’ board.
Baure noted that so far, only 65 pilgrims had paid their deposits across the five local government areas in the zone.
The zonal pilgrims officer urged all willing and capable individuals to hurry up on depositing their money with his office, for proper preparations.
He dismissed as baseless and unfounded the rumour in a section of the social media that the Hajj fair had been increased to N1.8 million.
“It is not true, as we are yet to be informed of the official fares by the authorities concerned.”
NAN reports that the Daura zonal pilgrims’ office was allocated 381 Hajj seats last year, out of which only 172 seats were booked. (NAN)
