The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) said it had distributed the 2023 Hajj allocations to the 36 State Pilgrims Welfare Boards, Agencies, Commissions, the FCT and the Armed Forces.

The commission’s Assistant Director of Information and Publications, Mousa Ubandawaki, made the disclosure in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

He said that the decision was reached at the end of the Executive Committee meeting which ratified the allocations.

Mr Ubandawaki listed the seat allocations to the states as follows: Abia 53, Adamawa 2,669, Anambra 39, Bauchi 3,132, Bayelsa 35, Benue 236, Borno 2,735, Cross River 66, Delta 74 and Nasarawa 1,567.

He said other states are: Niger 5,165, Ogun 1,139, Ondo 436, Osun 1,054, Oyo 1,441, Yobe 1,968, Ebonyi 117, Edo 274, Ekiti 197, Enugu 40, FCT 3,520 and Gombe, 2,300.

The rest include: Imo 30, Jigawa 1,525, Kaduna 5,982, Kano 5,902, Katsina 4,913, Kebbi 4,871, Kwara 3,219, Lagos 3,576, and Plateau 1,984.

Others are: Rivers 50, Sokoto 5,504, Taraba 1,590, Zamfara 3,083 while the Armed Forces got 543.

He disclosed that Kogi’s allocation would be released after the conclusion of the ongoing review of its activities.

Mr Ubandawaki said that the allocation of Akwa Ibom was suspended due to non-renewal of its operating licence.

He said that all the states were expected to remit payments of 50 per cent of the 2022 seats allocation to NAHCON before the February 10 deadline.

“The inability of any state to comply with the deadline date will lead to the reduction in the allocation to such state,” he said.

(NAN)