SAUDI ARABIA INCREASES SLOTS FOR NIGERIAN’S TOUR OPERATORS TO 40.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has approved Nigeria’s government demand to increase the 2024 Hajj slots of tour operators from 10 to 40.
In a change of policy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced in September that only five per cent of each hajj-participating country’s licensed tour operators would be permitted to conduct the 2024 hajj exercise. This translated to only 10 from Nigeria.
However, the federal government of Nigeria engaged the Saudi Ministry over the country’s course of promoting indigenous entrepreneurs as a tool in sustaining its socio-economic development.
Consequently, the Saudi Ministry in charge of Hajj and Umrah reviewed the decision in Nigeria’s favour.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) which announced this on Sunday in Abuja by the assistant director of public affairs, Fatima Sanda Usara, had laid down criteria for screening the earlier announced 110 qualified tour operators.