By Abdulfatah Babatunde
Alhaji AbdulHamid Solate, the Managing Director of Hajj Mabrur Ventures Ltd., (HMVL) has rated the organisation of this year’s pilgrimage as a huge success.
Solate assessed in an exclusive interview with TheNewsZenith on Thursday in Lagos.
He said there was a ‘marked improvement’ this year over the 2023 hajj operation.
TheNewsZenith reports that HMVL is one of the leading private hajj operators in the country. It successfully took 380 pilgrims through guided Hajj rites this year.
This was despite higher fares that more than doubled the 2023 Hajj fare when about 320 pilgrims travelled with the HMVL operator.
Last year, the HMVL boss said there were many challenges, especially for pilgrims in the Tent `D’. Tent D is usually for general pilgrims, who opted for the Standard Hajj Package.
“At least for this year, there was a marked improvement in all areas, of Hajj operation, even though, there were still areas that needed to be taken care of in terms of meals and the rest for some people.
“But generally, there was an improvement in terms of the tents that we used.
“The facilities provided at the tents are much more different from those of general tents. One thing that was so distinct was the issue of addressing the heat wave.
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“In terms of water, the place where ordinarily you don’t even expect to see water is around, maybe Musdalifa.
“Pilgrims were looking for water everywhere to drink, perhaps because of the heat that made them feel thirsty.
“But this year, you see them (Arab officials) all around. They carry trucks and coolers to distribute water to pilgrims.
“For us in Hajj Mabrur, we have a lot of things we did. We introduced so many things in terms of going more digital in our operations.
“One of them was, normally for our meals, we introduced some meal cards for pilgrims to collect their meals easily.
“This afforded us to monitor how pilgrims take their meals and we can provide them with adequate welfare services.
“We also introduced this year, the issue of insurance. This is apart from the general insurance that was given as part of the visa package by Saudi Arabia.
Hajj Mabrur also introduced separate travelling insurance for all our pilgrims. We did this so that in case there are issues, they can always get adequate care.
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