By Suleiman Anyalawechi
The Kano state authorities have called for an urgent review of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, policy on Basic Traveling Allowance, BTA, as it concerns intending Muslims pilgrims.
The revised CBN policy stipulates BTA of $500 for each intending Muslims pilgrims out of which $200 is permitted to be carried in cash, while the balance of $300 will only be accessed in the Holy Land electronically.
But rising from a stakeholders meeting on Friday May 17, Chairman of Kano State Muslims Pilgrims Board, Yusuf Lawan canvassed the reversal of the policy ,insisting that the CBN BTA policy represents a potential threat to the wellbeing of pilgrims ,in Saudi Arabia
Aligning with the position of the Chairman of the Board, Director General Alhaji Lamin Rabiu Danbappa further stressed that apart from the policy being unnecessary at this point in time ,it also poses a lot of difficulties ,most especially for intending Muslims pilgrims from the rural areas of the state .
He noted that most of the rural dwellers are not in tune with the trends in electronic banking services ,and as such will be more at home with the cash system .
“We recently received a directive from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria NAHCON regarding the BTA process .According to the directive, pilgrims will receive only $200 in cash ,while the remaining $300 will be accessed electronically in Saudi Arabia.
“We are urging the CBN to reverse this decision because of the peculiar circumstances of some of our intending pilgrims.”Chairman of the pilgrims Board stated.
The DG of the pilgrims Board, Danbappa further appealed to the NAHCON to as a matter of necessity press for the reversal of the current BTA. policy ,noting that it will inflict additional hardship on the already over burdened intending pilgrims.
He posited that forcing the intending pilgrims to resort to electronic transactions in the Holy Land could breed avoidable complications and problems,adding that the intending pilgrims have had more than enough challenges in this year’s Hajj exercise.
They have, therefore, called on the Federal Government and all other relevant bodies to assist in reversing the policy.
