Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State has directed the 2,700 intending pilgrims to be good ambassadors of the state while in the Holy land for the 2018 Hajj exercise.

“The intending pilgrims of Katsina State should try and avoid anything that will dent the image of the state and the country as a whole,” Masari said.

The governor gave the directive during the opening ceremony of a seven-day sensitisation workshop for state contingent on Sunday in Katsina.

“The state government has pumped a lot of resources in the Hajj exercise to make the state contingent very comfortable while in the Holy land,” he said.

The Governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Audi Bindawa, said that the government had sponsored several Islamic Scholars to sensitise the intending pilgrims on how to perform the Hajj devoid of challenges.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Mohammed Rimi, called on the intending pilgrims to always attend the sensitisation workshop so as to acquire the knowledge they required to perform the spiritual exercise.

Rimi said that the Max Airline was expected to commence transporting the intending pilgrims on July 21.

He advised them to ensure that their fingerprints were captured by the Saudi Arabia Staff from their consulate in Kano.

“Anyone who misses the biometric data capturing that will begin on Monday, July 9, will not perform the Hajj,” he said.

NAN reports that Katsina state has the highest number of intending pilgrims of 2,700, while Kano has 2,500 and Kaduna 2,300 for the exercise. (NAN)

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