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From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The Secretary to Kebbi State Government (SSG), Alhaji Yakubu Bala has explained the reasons behind the change of the venue for the airlift of intending pilgrims from Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport, Birnin Kebbi to Sultan Abubakar Internation Airport, Sokoto.
Bala disclosed this while speaking with Journalists on the new development in Birnin Kebbi.
The SSG who explained what caused the changing of the venue, said that there was an agreement between the Kebbi State Government and the Flynas Airline.
According to him: “the company will come here (Kebbi) to airlift our intending pilgrims for Saudi Arabia and bring them back to Kebbi after they might have performed their pilgrimage.
“In view of this, the government had installed all the needed facilities in the airport as requested by the company. This facility upgrade had even earned the state commendation from the National Hajj Commission as well as Federal Airport Authority.”
He said the company again complained of aviation fuel and hotel accommodation where the state government agreed to supply them with the fuel even though it was not its duty to do so.
According to him, they assured the state government that the state intending pilgrims will be airlifted from Kebbi, which prompted the authority’s concern to deploy Federal Fire Service staff and other personnel to aid airlift of pilgrims to facilitate smooth take-off.
“Concerning accommodation, we have assured them that we have five-star hotels here in Kebbi like Azbir, Safar and Nuggett and several others, but they later talked about food vendors. At last, they finalized that the take-off must be from Sokoto not Kebbi,” he noted.
He, however, lamented that upon all the efforts, the government received a letter from the Flynas Airline that: “our intending pilgrims must go to Sokoto for take-off.”
The SSG said the scheduled time for the take-off remained Saturday, June 10, at the Sultan Abubakar International Airport, Sokoto.
While advising the intending pilgrims to pray for Nigeria and Kebbi, the SSG urged them to be disciplined and law-abiding citizens.
