Pilgrims commission to get new secretariat

The executive chairman of the commission, Alhaji Hassan El-Badawi said the new building would accommodate all permanent commissioners and staff of the commission, adding that a conference hall that would accommodate 500 people at a time would also be constructed within the premises. He said the buildings would be completed within 20 weeks because the […]

The executive chairman of the commission, Alhaji Hassan El-Badawi said the new building would accommodate all permanent commissioners and staff of the commission, adding that a conference hall that would accommodate 500 people at a time would also be constructed within the premises.

He said the buildings would be completed within 20 weeks because the contractors had been paid 40% of the total contract sum.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly Alhaji Usman Adamu said dozens of flood victims in Damaturu and environs who took refuge at the state’s hajj transit camp had been relocated in order to give room for intending pilgrims who would lodge at the premises before moving to Maiduguri.

Our correspondent reports that following a heavy down pour that destroyed hundreds of houses in Damaturu and environs months back, some indigent families who have nowhere to go had relocated to the hajj camp which is situated along Potiskum road.

The Speaker who is also the state’s Amirul Hajj said government had through the state pilgrims’ commission gave the “refugees” some money in other to repair their houses and move in with their families.

He said the camp had equally received a face lift so as to accommodate intending pilgrims from the seventeen local government areas of the state before taking them to Maiduguri Airport en route Saudi Arabia.

The Speaker equally said the state House of Assembly hoped to receive in the 2010 budget, a proposal for the construction of permanent hajj camp in Damaturu.