Muslim pilgrims from Oyo State, who are already in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj rituals, appear to have been stranded as the Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing) under the leadership of Prof. Prof. Sayed Malik, has refused to pay them their Basic Travel Allowance.
Recall that the National Hajj Commission had fixed N2.5 million as the 2022 Hajj Fee, inclusive of $800 BTA per pilgrim.
The first batch of the pilgrims from the state, put at 250, left Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos aboard FlyNas Airline in the early hours of June 19, 2022.
But five days after their arrival in Madinah, the pilgrims are yet to be paid their BTA, leaving them stranded with no money to feed.
Surprisingly, the second batch that arrived on June 23, 2022, came with $400 each.
However, they said they were “blackmailed” into collecting $400 each from Nigeria as the officials asked them to either collect or be dropped from this year’s trip.
Report from Madinah says many pilgrims have fallen sick but unfortunately they have no money to feed not to talk of buying drugs.
Further checks also revealed that the medical personnel that accompanied the pilgrims have no basic drugs to give them.
Recall that the pilgrims who made the first batch had paid for the Hajj since 2020, but could not travel because of COVID-19 pandemic that compelled the Saudi Arabia Government to ban foreign pilgrims for two years.
Investigations revealed that the Oyo State Government may have diverted the pilgrims’ funds, hence the inability to pay their BTA.
The situation become unbearable on Thursday afternoon when the pilgrims openly protested, calling on Governor Seyi Makinde to direct the Board to pay their BTA.
A video that is already going viral showed the pilgrims protesting non-payment of their BTA.
They complained that others states paid their pilgrims on arrival in Madinah, citing Osun State that has since paid the $800 as an example.
However, Oyo state Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing) under Prof. Malik collected N2.6 million from each of the intending pilgrims as against N2.5 million announced by NAHCON.
Reacting to the protest, Malik has denied that some pilgrims from the state who are already in Saudi Arabia have been denied their BTA.
He said the reports were unfounded and far from the true situation of things at the State’s Hajj camps in Saudi Arabia.
He said in a statement: “It is not true in any way, that the Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing) has diverted funds meant for the payment of BTA of the first batch of pilgrims from the state, who are currently in Saudi Arabia. Such a report can only be a figment of the imagination of the writer.
“The truth of the matter is that there were delays in the release of BTA to the Board as a result of the late release of the circular guiding the payment of the allowances by the authorities in Abuja. This is not peculiar to Oyo State pilgrims, as all pilgrims across the states are faced with the same situation.
“As a result of the delay, the first batch of travellers from Oyo State and several other states of the federation had to embark on the trip to Saudi before the BTA could be secured. The delay, however, does not indicate that any of the travellers would lose their entitlements.
“By the time the second batch of travellers were leaving Nigeria, only a fraction of the entire BTA had been secured and it was concluded that each of the travellers be made to get $400 while those who were already in Saudi Arabia were paid $200 each, pending the release of the entire money by the Nigerian authorities.
“It must be placed on record that the dollar scarcity which had hit the foreign exchange market is a key contributor to the delay to secure the required BTA.
“While the delayed payment of the BTA is regretted, we have to place on record that there is no intention to divert anyone’s entitlement or deny any of the pilgrims their due. We make bold to undertake that each of the pilgrims will get what is approved for them in the course of the holy pilgrimage.
“The welfare of every pilgrim remains our utmost concern at all times.”
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