How FG, states spent N120bn on pilgrimage in three years

The Federal Government and no fewer than 21 states have spent a total of N119.9bn on subsidies for Christian and Muslim pilgrimages in the last three years, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have shown.

The figure was derived from analysing media reports of the amounts the Federal Government and the states offered to sponsor Muslim and Christian pilgrims between 2022 and 2024.

It was gathered that in 2022, eight governors from Enugu, Delta, Taraba, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Gombe, and Zamfara states spent a combined N4.94bn to fund both Christian and Muslim pilgrims.

Enugu State sponsored 300 pilgrims; Delta, 312; Taraba, 163; Bauchi, 199; Nasarawa, 117; Plateau, 420; Gombe, 29; Zamfara, 1,400, while the Lagos State Government disbursed over $1.2m to pay the Basic Travel Allowance for 1,562 Muslim pilgrims.

In 2023, eight state governors again (Imo, Enugu, Adamawa, Lagos, Borno, Edo, Kano, and Ogun) spent N2.53bn to sponsor Christian pilgrims and N7.35bn on their Muslim counterparts, totaling N9.88bn.

Imo State funded 1,000 Christian pilgrims; Enugu, 300; Adamawa, 120; Lagos, 170; and Borno, 101. Adamawa paid for all its 2,574 Muslim pilgrims, while Edo State sponsored 40 for Hajj, all in 2023.

Also, for the same year, the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, gave N65m to 6,166 Hajj pilgrims from the state, while the Ogun State Government provided logistics support for 2023 Muslim pilgrims.

For 2024, investigations showed that President Bola Tinubu and 14 state governors (Plateau, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Borno, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Sokoto, Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Jigawa, and Bauchi) spent a whopping sum of N105bn to sponsor Hajj pilgrims.

Speaking at the inaugural airlifting of the 2024 Hajj exercise from Nigeria to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport, Birnin Kebbi, in May, Vice-President Shettima said the President subsidised the 2024 Hajj with N90bn.

“Mr President has been committed to this year’s Hajj due to the economic situation. He has also contributed the sum of N90bn to subsidise this year’s Hajj exercise to ensure a smooth and successful pilgrimage,” the VP stated.

The Kogi State Government was the first to announce full payment of the sum for its 460 pilgrims.

Governor Yusuf also announced a N500,000 subsidy for each of the 2,906 pilgrims in his state, followed by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, who announced a subsidy of N959,000 for the 2,290 pilgrims in the state, while the Jigawa and Kebbi state governments subsidised fares with N1m each for their 1,260 and 3,344 pilgrims, respectively.

The Ogun State Government also paid the sum of N119,560,712 for the shortfall in the Basic Travel Allowance of the state’s Muslim pilgrims.

According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State Governor, Lekan Adeniran, the shortfall came as a result of the unexpected changes in the foreign exchange rates.

Similarly, the Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda, gifted each intending pilgrim from the state 720 Saudi riyal to enable them to perform the Holy pilgrimage with comfort.

A statement issued in May 2024 by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed, said, “The governor promised a hadiya package of 720 Saudi riyal for each of the state’s intending pilgrims.”

According to NAHCO, the state registered 2,600 pilgrims, which implied that the state government expended a total of 1,872,000 Saudi riyal, which equals N733,093,920 when converted to Nigerian currency using the May exchange rate of N391.61 per Saudi riyal.

In June, the Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, announced a gift of $100 each to the 3,102 pilgrims in the state.

He made the call last Thursday while bidding farewell to the fifth batch of the 2024 intending pilgrims of the state at the Babatunde Idi-Agbon International Airport in Ilorin, the state capital.

Going by the governor’s announcement, the state has spent a total sum of $310,200 on the 3,102 pilgrims’ travel allowance, which amounts to N456,614,400, going by the exchange rate of N1,472 per dollar.

In the same month, the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu, approved 1,000 Saudi riyal for each of the 3,643 pilgrims from the state.

By the approval, the state government has doled out a total sum of 3,643,000 Saudi riyal to the entire pilgrims of the state, which amounts to N1,429,003,180, based on the June exchange rate of N392.26 per Saudi riyal.