Scores of intending pilgrims from Nigeria may miss the 2024 Ramadan Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia owing to the decision of the authorities of that country to stop issuing Umrah visas.
This comes as a rude shock to many intending pilgrims who are anxiously counting down the days to their intended departure date. It may also result in huge business and financial losses to numerous establishments the intending pilgrims use. Preliminary investigation reveals man hotels, airlines, etc., are already looking to cancel or reschedule their bookings.
Daily Trust reports that a flight initially scheduled to depart Kano for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, March 20th, 2024, did not leave as scheduled as a majority of the 300 passengers billed to fly had not received their visas allowing entry into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ramadan is an Umrah season in Nigeria and other countries around the world as Muslims strive to spend the last 10 days of the one-month fasting in Saudi Arabia to perform lesser hajj, but all is not going to plan this year, as many Muslims are deeply concerned by the decision of the Saudi government to not issue them visas.
In Kano as well as other parts of the country, thousands of Umrah intending pilgrims are still waiting to get entry visas to perform lesser hajj.
Travel agents, however, are laying the blame at the feet of Saudi authorities and some of the new visa policies they have just started enacting.
The Zonal chairman, Kano of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON), Mr. Haruna Ismail, said the visa policy with three months validity and two weeks duration of stay is the cause of the current slow issuance of the visa for intending Umrah pilgrims.
Mr. Ismail said a lot of the intending pilgrims had duly secured their visa since Rajab (the 7th month in the Islamic calendar) but delayed entry till Ramadan (the 9th month) because the visa has three months validity.
According to him, some pilgrims overstayed their duration in the kingdom because they did not fully understand the concept of three months validity.
“Once a client pays for an Umrah package and his visa is delayed or not given, then we have to either reschedule his ticket or refund his money and either way is a loss,” he explained.
Echoing the chairman, the vice chairman of AHUON, Abdulaziz Sabitu Mohammed, said more than 7,000 Umrah intending pilgrims have secured visas but did not enter the kingdom.
He claimed 260 of his clients have their air tickets ready but are yet to obtain their visas, adding that only about 40 clients have secured visas for this year’s lesser hajj unlike the previous years.
“From our estimation last year, Saudi Arabia received more than 25 million Umrah pilgrims out of which, three million performed Umrah in Ramadan, but this year, because of the new visa policy, three months validity and duration of stay of two weeks instead of one month, made many to overstay in the Kingdom. There were people who visited since Sha’aban (8th month) and stayed after performing the Umrah,” he said.
Mohammed said they have discussed the issue with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, and are hopeful for a positive response before the end of the first half of Ramadan.
Intending Umrah pilgrims are distraught by the unfolding saga and some are already engaging some desperate measures like choosing gone to pay excess money just to secure the visa, some have resorted to pay as high as N2 million for the visa, which normally costs less than half a million naira.
An intending pilgrim, Babangida Danazumi, who spoke to Daily Trust said he use to travel with six others in a group every year, but none got a visa this time, forcing them to reschedule their tickets.
He expressed anger that they spent nearly one year preparing for the trip, but were disappointed, calling on NAHCON to intervene.
Another intending pilgrim, Sadi Hamisu Ala, lamented “our booking was March 15, but we have to reschedule it because the visa is not ready. I belong to a group of eight persons and we bought our tickets seven months ago, believing that visas will be easy as every year. Usually, it is cheaper to book ahead and it makes things easier”.
The decision of Saudi authorities to stop issuing visas, our correspondents find, was due to overcrowding as some intending pilgrims who were granted visas previously did not leave the country.
A statement from the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah earlier in the week read in part: “Permits to perform two or more Umrah pilgrimages will not be issued during the holy month. This move is to ease congestion and provide the opportunity for all other pilgrims to perform Umrah in ease and comfort during the holy month.”
A spokesperson for NAHCON declined to comment, when contacted.
