The Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency, on Thursday in Kaduna officially launched a Hajj savings scheme, into which intending pilgrims will make installment payments.

The scheme allows individuals to maintain a savings account with an approved Bank in which they would at their own pace save enough to enable them to travel to perform Hajj.

The official launch of the scheme, which took place at the Emir of Zazzau’s Palace in Zaria, was also to officially flag off the collection of the 2023 Hajj fare.

The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr. Yusuf Arrigasiyyu, said the goal of the savings scheme was to reduce the burden on intending pilgrims of having to source a large amount of money to pay for Hajj in a particular year.

He said an individual could pay N1.5m or above in installments, however, noting that the 2023 official price of Saudi Arabia’s pilgrimage is yet to be announced by the appropriate authority.

He noted that individuals who pay in excess would be refunded.

Arrigasiyyu also noted that the hitherto age limitation and the number of individuals visiting Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage have been addressed.

“One can go for as many pilgrimages as he can afford, regardless of his age,” he said.

He further said that intending pilgrims would no longer pay cash, but through banks, while warning them against corrupt Officers in the Agency.

“Our officials are not allowed to even collect gifts to render services, whoever is caught, will be punished according to the law that established the agency,” Arrigasiyyu said.

He assured the public of their tireless efforts in ensuring that all hitches encountered in the previous Hajj are addressed in the 2023 exercise.

In his address, the Emir of Zazzau, Amb. Ahmad Bamalli commended the Kaduna Pilgrims Welfare Agency for their feat in emerging best in the previous administrative conduct of the Hajj exercise.

He, however, called for improvement and swift address mechanism to the plights of pilgrims in the state.

Bamalli urged the Agency to always deploy professional health workers who are capable and know the rudiments of health care service delivery.

He also urged them on thorough authentication and examination of religious guides who are deployed to the holy land for guiding pilgrims on the right religious acts and worship.

He tasked the agency with ensuring due process and shying away from favoritism and God-fatherism in all necessities for pilgrims' preparation for the holy land.

The Emir lamented some ill-treatment of pilgrims by the Saudi Arabians while calling on them to desist from doing so, reminding them that being bound by the same religion supersedes race or other differences.

“The Agency must wake up to stand against such ill-treatment by anyone, though the Saudi authority has rules and regulations, whoever flaunts it has consequences to dance to, but they must respect others' dignity who are law-abiding,” he said.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the Kaduna State Bureau of interfaith, Malam Tahir Umar, said they would work in synergy with the Pilgrimage Agency to ensure a smooth Hajj exercise in the state.

He said they have worked out some innovations like harmonizing schools of thought to clerics as bases for their sermons and religious guide to the pilgrims for tutorials and in the holy land.