Hajj: FG to blacklist Virgin Nigeria
For defaulting in the transportation of pilgrims back to Nigeria after this year's Hajj in Saudi Arabia, Virgin Nigeria`s airline might never be considered for such jobs in future.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Abubakar Tanko, who stated this in Abuja yesterday, said that blacklisting the airline was just one of the sanctions against it for disappointing the nation.
``The federal government is no longer prepared to tolerate any embarrassing misbehaviour from any one in the Hajj exercise,'' he said.
The airline has already been fined 500,000 dollars for the five flight slots it had missed after the federal government invoked that clause built into the initial contract.
Tanko who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that an alternative airline was already being positioned to transport the pilgrims that the defaulting airline could not bring home.
``The Amirrul Hajj (Sultan Saad Abubakar 111) is already engaging another airline and I can assure you that the pilgrims would soon be brought home,'' he stated.
On his general impression of the exercise, the minister described this year's hajj operations as ``one of the best in the history of hajj operations in Nigeria.''
``We started very early and I am happy that we reaped the gains from such efforts.''
According to him, the stakeholders are very committed to the assignment and made sure that all deadlines were kept.
He particularly lauded the appointment of the Sultan as the Amirrul Hajj as it gave the right impetus for success.
The minister blamed the delay in the arrival of luggage to the ``bogus luggage'' by Nigerians, saying that Nigeria was even forced to seek a waiver against the screening of luggage to minimise the delays.
Reports indicate that close to half of the 80,000 Nigerians who performed the exercise had returned to the country.