Sani Babadoko
27 June 2008
Kaduna — The Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board (MPWB) may stop unaccompanied elderly persons from performing the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina this year, the Executive Secretary of the board, Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed Mukhtar has said.
He said at the opening of a consultative meeting of the board with the Ulamah in the state preparatory to this year's exercise that last year the exercise encountered problems with elderly pilgrims who were not accompanied as a result of the disappearance of such assistants on arrival in the Holy Land.
He explained that it was mandatory on intending pilgrims who were of advanced age to show evidence of having paid for a seat for an escort to assist them in the Holy Land but that unfortunately such escorts abandon their benefactors on arrival in Jedda and saddle the board with the problem of giving logistics and health support to them.
He said because of similar problems encountered with expectant mothers in the past the federal pilgrims' authorities stopped expectant mothers in their final days of pregnancy from performing the Hajj.
Mukhtar said the board decided to consult with the Ulama in the state for a successful Hajj operation this year pointing out that because there was no Koranic injunction putting an age limit on intending pilgrims and the controversy such a measure could engender.
The scribe also explained the new Federal Government policy on exchange rate of the Naira as it affects pilgrims from Nigeria as well as the Saudi authorities' procedures before proceeding to Mina and Arafat.
The Permanent Bureau of Muslim Affairs, Alhaji Balarabe Jigo explained that the state government has not stopped disabled persons to the Holy Land but added that the pilgrims board would need to know the exact form of disability to be able to provide such appliances as wheelchairs, guides or interpreters for such pilgrims.
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