Vice President Kashim Shettima has formally flagged off the 2026 Hajj airlift, charging Nigeria’s 50,000 intending Muslim pilgrims to represent their country with the highest standards of discipline, humility, and integrity while in the Holy Land, describing the pilgrimage as both a sacred personal covenant and a binding institutional obligation of the Nigerian state to its citizens.
Speaking at the inaugural flight ceremony at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, where approximately 500 Kogi State pilgrims became the first to depart for Saudi Arabia, Shettima said every pilgrim travelled under Nigeria’s banner and that every institution involved in the exercise carried a sacred trust that demanded nothing less than excellence in execution.
“You are ambassadors of Nigeria. You carry with you the image of our nation and the dignity of our people. Let your conduct reflect discipline, humility, patience, and integrity,” the Vice President told the pilgrims.
He described the Hajj exercise as a binding covenant between the Nigerian state and its citizens in which the government bore an unconditional duty of care to guarantee safe, dignified, and seamless movement while pilgrims upheld the values and image of the nation before the global Muslim community. “Our duty is to ensure that every pilgrim undertakes this journey without avoidable hardship, needless anxiety, or preventable setback,” he stated.
Shettima specifically charged Hajj administrators, aviation operators, medical personnel, and security agencies to maintain the highest standards of coordination and service delivery, warning that operational success would be measured not by the number of flights departing but by the quality of the pilgrims’ experience from departure through return.
“There is no room for negligence where faith, lives, and national reputation converge,” he declared.
Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo, who spoke at the ceremony, urged pilgrims to use their time in the Holy Land to offer sustained prayers for Nigeria’s peace, security, and socioeconomic recovery. He also called on pilgrims to pray specifically for President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima as they steered the country through its ongoing reform programme.
National Hajj Commission Chairman Ismail Abba Yusuf assured stakeholders of the commission’s commitment to pilgrim welfare, noting that ongoing reforms under the Tinubu administration were aimed at entrenching transparency and institutional transformation within the Hajj management framework.
