More than 8,000 intending pilgrims will be airlifted from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Ikeja to Saudi Arabia for the 2012 Hajj.
A source at the Hajj Camp at
MMIA told newsmen that the intending pilgrims were from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Edo
and Osun States, as well as from the Armed Forces. The source, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, noted that the transportation of the intending pilgrims
would begin today.
The source said Med View and
Marx airlines would transport the intending pilgrims. He said the relevant
authorities had made available a Rapscan screening machine for examination of
the intending pilgrims. He said the authority has also
commenced renovation of the Hajj Camp.
Meanwhile, both registered and
unregistered cargo operators and freight forwarders operating at the camp were
on Monday barred from entering the premises. It was gathered that they
parked their vehicles in front of the camp’s main entrance and gathered at the
gate. This resulted in traffic gridlock in the early hours of the
day.
The Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria (FAAN) last week allocated a space at the Limousine Park on the
Apapa-Oshodi Expressway to them for their operations. Mr Victor Arisa, the FAAN
Deputy-General Manager (Public Affairs), had said that FAAN authorities and
representatives of the cargo operators agreed on the relocation.
An employee of FAAN, who did not want his name to be mentioned, told
newsmen that sanity had returned to the camp with the ejection of the cargo
operators and freight forwarders. Mr Davies Ben, the Secretary-General of the
Association of Nigerian Customs Licensed Agents, could not speak with newsmen on
the relocation as he claimed he was in a meeting. (NAN)
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