The Chairman/CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Barr. Zikrullah Kunle Hassan has arrived in Saudi Arabia after spearheading a smooth airlift of Nigerian pilgrims to the holy land for this year’s Hajj.

The Chairman arrived at Jeddah International Airport on Friday, alongside his management teams and other officials of the commission.

He arrived via Flynas flight at 23:20hrs Saudi time with 156 pilgrims and 139 officials.

Speaking at the final batch of the airlift ceremony of Niger state pilgrims at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport on Friday, the NAHCON Boss said said it is historic for the Commission to airlift all its pilgrims on schedule.

The chairman further expressed gratitude to the Almighty Allah for making the entire exercise a success despite some of the encountered challenges and against the background of the last year challenges and due to the emergency nature of the operation.

“There are many things for us to be greatful, this years operation is about the first time in ten years when we are going to the kingdom of saudi Arabia with the total number of over 95,000, it has taken a while for Nigerian pilgrims to get this number.

“And the beauty of it is that despite the number we are able to airlift all the states pilgrims and i must say that even those of the tour operators who are challenged, by 2:am today in sha Allah after midnight today the last of the tour operators pilgrims chartered airplane will live lagos, we are safe to conclude that every operation managed and micro managed by NAHCON as far as airlift is concern are going to be in the kingdom and partake in the Arafat,” he said.

He also stated that a flight that will depart 2pm on Saturday is strictly for NAHCON officials.