Lagos — The first 500 Nigerians on Holy Pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia arrived the Jeddah International Airport, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

The elated pligrims, most of whom were from Gombe State, were received at the Jeddah Airport by Alhaj Liad Tella, a federal commissioner with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), representatives of the Nigerian Embassy as well as the Consulate in Saudi Arabia.

In a telephone chat with Tella yesterday, he noted that the advance team of the Hajj commission were on ground to receive the pilgrims in the holy land, adding that after the necessary airport clearance and protocol, they were transported to their luxury accommodation in the Holy City of Medina.

According to him, all necessary arrangements have been concluded to ensure a hitch-free airlift of Nigerian pilgrims to the holy land of Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj.

The Federal Hajj Commissioner told our correspondent that the first 500 contingents of Nigerian pilgrims were airlifted by Kabo Air from the newly inaugurated Gombe International Airport, adding that five more batches are expected to be airlifted from different designated airports in Nigeria to the holy land today.

Tella disclosed that the Hajj operation s this years would be an improvement over the success level recorded last year, where the Hajj operation s were concluded in record time.

The Amirul Hajj and the leader of the Federal Government delegation to this year's Hajj, Dimeji Bankole , who is also the Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as five other state governors were on hand to bid the first batch of Nigerian Pilgrim s farewell to the Holy Land .

The event was also used to officially commence international operation s at the Gombe Airport , which has just been upgraded to international al status.

About 95,000 pilgrims are expected to perform this year's Hajj from Nigeria . This includes 85,000 regular and 10,000 International Pilgrims. Airlift of the intending pilgrims is expected to be concluded by December 5, 2008 .