18 Nigerians lose their lives during this year's hajj in lowest death rate for five years

EIGHTEEN Nigerian pilgrims have lost their lives in this year's hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in what has been the lowest death toll in five years according to date recently published by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (Nahcon).

 

Dr Ibrahim Kana, the head of Nahcon's medical team, said the 18 Nigerians who lost their lives were among the 76,000 pilgrims who travelled to Saudi Arabia for the 2016 hajj. He acknowledged the improvement in sanitation around Nigerian tents in Mina and the cooperation of the pilgrims in maintaining a healthy environment.

 

According Dr Kana, the low figure was as a result of enhanced sanitation, increased medical awareness and compressed national medical team. Nahcon's medical team attended to over 21,000 patients since the commencement of the hajj rites and detected five pregnant women despite repeated warnings.

 

Despite this, Nahcon has been urged to sustain and upgrade the standard of operations carried out in the 2016 hajj exercise. Stakeholders made the call at the meeting, which also focused on reviewing the challenges encountered during the hajj exercise and plans for the 2017 pilgrimage.

 

Over 3m Nigerian pilgrims performed this year’s hajj, which starts with moving to Muna Arafat and Muzdalifa and throwing stones at the devil.  While analysing the performance of Nahcon so far, Abdullahi Balarabe, the chairman of the House of Representative Committee on Nigeria-Saudi Inter-Parliamentary Friendship and Hajj Affairs, said despite the successes achieved, the commission needed to re-strategise for better performance in future operations.