Gabriel Omoh
5 January 2009
IN fulfilment of religious obligations, Nigerians spent a total N34.63 billion in 2008 on pilgrimages to holy sites in Saudi Arabia and Israel, especially Mecca and Jerusalem. Of this amount, the Muslim annual pilgrimage cost the nation a total N29.7073 billion, while that of Christians cost the national economy N4.93 billion.
Figures obtained from the Central Bank (CBN), the federal and states pilgrims boards showed that in October 2008, a total 84,878 Nigerians went to Mecca to perform the annual hajj obligations in which a total N29.7073 billion was spent on a total package of N350,000 per person. Tickets for the airlift of the Muslim pilgrims amounted to N 24. 275 billion.
In December, a total 17,000 pilgrims were approved by the Federal Government to perform the annual Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem at a cost of N290,000 per person. Tickets for the airlift of the Christian pilgrims amounted to N174 million. This brings the total amount spent on air tickets for the two pilgrimages in 2008 to N24.449 billion.
In the 2008 hajj operation, the Federal Government approved a total $1,500 per pilgrim as against the $1,000 approved for their Christian counterparts. This brought the total amount spent on Personal Travel Allowance to N10.188 billion in 2008.
A breakdown showed that Nigerians spent a total $127.317 million in foreign exchange or N16.885 billion in 2008 to finance both the Muslim and Christian pilgrimages. Data made available to Vanguard showed that in October 2008, 84,878 Nigerians performed the 2008 hajj to Mecca as approved by the Federal Government and a maximum of $1,500 was approved as personal travelling allowance for each of the Muslim pilgrims, thus resulting in total foreign exchange procurement of $127,217,000 for the Muslim pilgrims.
Available data also showed that in December, 17,000 Nigerians undertook the 2008 pilgrimage to Israel, with the Federal Government approving $1,000 per Christian pilgrim. This gives a total foreign exchange procurement of $17 million for the pilgrims in 2008. As a result, the twin religious pilgrimages gulped a total of $144.317 million in foreign exchange from the nation.
According to a circular to all banks and the general public released on Wednesday, December 30 by the CBN and signed by Mr. B Musa, Acting Director, Trade & Exchange Department of the apex bank, government said it also approved the purchase of a maximum $1,000 by each intending Christian pilgrim as Personal Travelling Allowance (PTA). The PTA, it said, could be purchased at the prevailing naira/dollar exchange rate on the day of the purchase in any of the 14 designated banks. It was the same circular that the bank sent out in October during the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
The banks approved by the CBN, to handle the foreign exchange needs of both the Christian and Muslim pilgrimages are Afribank Plc, Bank PHB, First City Monument Bank, FinBank Plc, First Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, GT Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Oceanic Bank International Plc, Union Bank Plc, UBA Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.
The recent circular entitled: "Year 2008 Christian pilgrimage: Purchase of pilgrims travelling allowance" gave the state-by-state breakdown of the official number of pilgrims allocated to the 36 states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
The breakdown of the pilgrims showed that Taraba had 363 Christian and 1,730 Muslim pilgrims; Kogi, 242 Christians, 830 Muslims; Osun, 728 Christians, 1,000 Muslims; Bauchi, 316 Christians, 3,650 Muslims; Niger, 60 Christians, 4,330 Muslims; Adamawa, 61 Christians, 2,200 Muslims; Borno, 46 Christians, 3,060 Muslims; Yobe, 167 Christians, 2,730 Muslims; and Cross River, 155 Christians and 50 Muslims.
Others are Ondo, 220 Christians, 355 Muslims; Ogun, 764 Christians, 1,530 Muslims; Nasarawa, 255 Christians, 2,200 Muslims; FCT, 450 Christians, 2,820 Muslims; Kaduna, 1,492 Christians, 8,030 Muslims; Kwara, 470 Christians, 2,541 Muslims; Gombe, 219 Christians, 2,502 Muslims; Lagos, 1,006 Christians, 3,800 Muslims; Oyo, 656 Christians, 1,500 Muslims; Ebonyi, 350 Christians, 60 Muslims; Delta, 460 Christians, 100 Muslims; Rivers, 2,422 Christians, 450 Muslims; and Ekiti, 266 Christians, 280 Muslims.
The rest are Benue, 426 Christians, 500 Muslims; Enugu, 274 Christians, 50 Muslims; Abia, 536 Christians, 50 Muslims; Anambra, 134 Christians, 100 Muslims; Kano, 8 Christians, 7,000 Muslims; Imo, 237 Christians, 80 Muslims; Bayelsa, 1,672 Christians, 180 Muslims; Edo, 350 Christians, 300 Muslims and Akwa Ibom, 400 Christians, 60 Muslims.
The CBN circular stated: "The designated banks are required to sell the permissible amount of the PTA to intending pilgrims whose names and passport numbers are included in the pilgrims' master list. No pilgrim should be denied the travel allowance on the ground that he/she has no Tax Clearance Certificate. In view of the time constraint associated with the pilgrimage exercise, the Chairman or the Secretary of each State Pilgrims' Board, after due identification, may be allowed to sign for and collect the PTA on behalf of the intending pilgrims in his/her state on presentation of the approved list and valid passports of the pilgrims listed against his/her state."
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