Med-View Airline says that it would airlift some 2, 000
intending pilgrims from the Lagos, Ilorin, Maidugiri and Abuja zones to Mecca,
Saudi Arabia, for this year’s lesser Hajj.

The General Manager of the airline, Mr David Babatunde, disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.

He said that the lesser Hajj to Mecca was a prelude to the
main Hajj schedued to come up later in the year in Saudi Arabia.

“So far, the carrier has airlifted about 1, 000 pilgrims for
the exercise which started last week, and hopes to conclude the exercise by the
end of this month,” he said.

Babatunde told newsmen that the first phase of the exercise would
end by Aug. 11, while the second phase would start on Aug. 19.

He said that the carrier had deployed a Boeing 767-300 on
the route to ensure effective airlift of the pilgrims.

Speaking on some pilgrims who use the avenue to defect to
other countries, Babtunde noted that the airline’s management had devised means
of curbing the occurrence.

“For our pilgrims, we have really sensitised them on the
implication of such defection on the carrier and the country.

“We have also advised and appealed to them not to defect, so
as not to tarnish the existing cordial bilateral relations between the
governments of Nigeria and Saudi Arabia,’’ he said.

Babatunde told newsmen that the airline, in some cases,
asked intending pilgrims to provide guarantors to ensure that they did not
disappear in Saudi Arabia.

It would be recalled that Med-View airlifted some 8, 213
pilgrims from Lagos, Edo, Oyo, Ogun and the Armed Forces to Mecca in the 2011
edition.