Not less than 50,000 Nigerian pilgrims from the states, armed forces, and private tour operators join their counterparts from across the world in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to begin this year’s Hajj rites today, marking the commencement of the five-day spiritual exercise, described as a lifetime journey.

Thousands of Saudi indigenes and resident expatriates will join more than 1.5 million pilgrims who have arrived in the Kingdom for this year’s Hajj before the closure of airspace, land borders, and seaports.

Though some states moved their pilgrims to Mina, also called Tent City, yesterday to avoid traffic gridlock and congestion on the roads leading to the Masha’ir (holy sites of Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah, most pilgrims depart from Makkah today to Mina, where they will spend the day before moving to Arafat tomorrow, which is the peak of this year’s holy pilgrimage.

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Authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have spent months and resources in preparing, upgrading, and improving existing infrastructure at the holy sites as well as putting up entirely new structures in order to ensure a successful and hitch-free Hajj this year.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Ambassador Ismail Abba Yusuf, has called on the state pilgrims welfare boards and private tour operators to be mindful of the fact that they have lots to do in terms of organisation, asserting that if they fail, pilgrims may be hurt and may not perform their Hajj properly.

Yusuf said this Saturday night in Makkah at a pre-Arafat meeting with executives of state pilgrims’ welfare boards, private tour operators, and critical stakeholders, calling on pilgrims and other stakeholders to follow regulations set by the Saudi authorities.

According to the NAHCON chief, “We have a lot to do in terms of organisation. If we fail in the organisation, people might get hurt, people might not perform their Hajj properly. And the fault will be on us because we are holding them.”

Yusuf told the gathering that there was a template for the movement of pilgrims to the holy sites and going to the Jamarat, where pilgrims would throw stones at the devil, admonishing all to ensure strict compliance with the laid-down regulations on movement of pilgrims in and out of the holy sites.

“All we need to do is follow regulations. There is already a template on the ground. If we follow the template in terms of movement in and out, we are not going to have problems.

“We should put aside our personal ideas. We should put aside what we think we know because, before the regulations were put in place, processes were followed.

“To assemble three million people in a country to perform Hajj is not a small task. And this is a task for which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has diligently put in place a solution,” he said.

In a related development, the Saudi authorities have barred pilgrims from leaving their tents between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm daily during the days of Hajj in view of hot temperatures forecasted for the period of this year’s Hajj with a view to preventing heat-related illnesses, including heatstroke.

They appealed to pilgrims to drink lots of fluids, including water, said to be the best option, avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, and stay in shaded areas whenever possible.