National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, has so far approved hajj 2017 fare of 21 State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards, FCT and the Armed Forces.

The approval followed the appearance and defence of the proposed fares by all the agencies in an exercise that began Friday and is still ongoing.

Unlike in previous years, there would be no common fare for all states and the commission has also pegged $800 as Basic Travel Allowance for all pilgrims.

The approved fares as of Monday are as follows:

Nasarawa: N1,544,894.16

Niger: N1,525,483.30

Kaduna: N1,535,503.68

Kano: N1,537,859.97

Adamawa: N1,530,101.18

Yobe: N1, 520,101.18

FCT: N1,538,218.62

Bauchi: N1,523,122.41

Plateau: N1,529,036.80

Zamfara: N1,510,461.65

Sokoto: N1,524,618.90

Gombe: N1,516,118.90

Benue: N1,522,118.90

Kebbi: N1,534,659.85

Taraba: N1,521,138.21

Osun: N1,548,153.42

Armed Forces: N1,538,379.22

Ogun: N1,561,943.97

Anambra: N1,511,173.77

Kwara: N1,501,571.27

Ekiti: N1,525,191.27

Edo: N1,551,331.87

Oyo: N1,584,069.02.

NAHCON had earlier fixed N38,000 as Hadaya (ram sacrifice) for each pilgrim.

The N38,000 is not part of the fare being announced. Each Pilgrim is expected to pay to their state boards and agencies, who in turn remit to Jaiz Bank.

Jaiz Bank last week signed an MOU with NAHCON to collect payment for Hadaya and transfer to the Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia.

The IDB issues coupons to each pilgrim that paid and the sacrifice is conducted on Eid day on their behalf.

Last year NAHCON pegged the fare in three categories.

The minimum fare with $750 BTA for pilgrims from the north was fixed at N998,248.92, while pilgrims from the southern part of the country paid N1,008,197.42.

For the medium fare, with a BTA of $1,000, northern pilgrims paid N1,047,498.92, while those from the south paid N1,057,447.42.

It also allowed those from the north wishing to use the maximum fare with $1,500 BTA to N1,145,998.92 while southern pilgrims paid N1,155,947.42.

Although the commission is yet to announce why the fare this year is different and higher than last year, it is safe to assume that may be due to the rise in exchange rate of the dollar.

While pilgrims were allowed to exchange N197 to a dollar last year, the official government exchange rate this year is N307 to a dollar.

PT