By Chinwendu Nnadozie Snr Correspondent, Minna

Leader of the 2010 Muslim Pilgrimage in Niger State and Chief Justice of the state, Justice Jibril Ndajiwo, has urged the Federal Government to hands off annual pilgrimage to state governments, who are the direct beneficiaries.
Handing over of all preparations on pilgrimages to state governments, according to him, has become necessary as states deal directly with individual pilgrims.
He also said that because the Federal Government has its hand full of other exigencies and therefore will have little or no time attending to the demands of logical conclusion of the exercise.
Ndajiwo, who stated this while submitting the report of the 2010 Hajj Committee to Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, also accused the Federal Government of failing in its responsibility to effectively handle all pilgrimage-related affairs in Mecca and Medina.
He said since traveling to Mecca and Medina has become an annual religious trip by Moslems, states and federal governments should allow religious leaders to handle some aspects of the hajj operations.
Providing adequate accommodation and feeding throughout the duration of the pilgrimage are part of key areas the federal and state governments have failed and it is expedient that leaders of pilgrims from respective states should be given the leverage to choose who to take charge of their feeding and accommodations, Ndajiwo also pointed out.
The team leader argued that a situation whereby more than seven pilgrims had to share a single room while over 40 subjected to share a one toilet in the Holy land is unacceptable and the trend should be checked if we must get it right.
“The experiment embarked upon by the National Hajj Commission to exclusively provide decent feeding for all Nigerian pilgrims at Arafat and Mina ran into serious difficulties, but for the timely and mature intervention of the pilgrim officials, pilgrims out of frustration and desperation would have taken the laws into their hands.”
According to the 2010 Muslim Pilgrims leader, “We highly recommend that the states be allowed to arrange for feeding of their pilgrims as against a central feeding system whose efficiency we cannot guarantee.”
Responding, Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu promised to officially communicate to the Federal Government about the lapses with a view to correcting some of them.

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=32642

How much does the FG spend/year on pilgrimage-related activities?

ekt_bear:

How much does the FG spend/year on pilgrimage-related activities?

tens of billions of naira that could have been put to better use. This is an example of why we need resource control in this country.

our govt likes dipping its hands where it has no business. when will govt actually face governance and abandon the million other silly things it does? it is just a way for govt officials to steal public funds. when are these thieves going to sponsor my pilgrimage to Barbados? i want to visit the Orisha shrine .

lagcity:

our govt likes dipping its hands where it has no business. when will govt actually face governance and abandon the million other silly things it does? it is just a way for govt officials to[b] steal public funds[/b]. when are these thieves going to sponsor my pilgrimage to Barbados? i want to visit the Orisha shrine .

right there. More money to be stolen. Why would the FG handover a program that allows chop-I-chop to the state govs?