Over 5,000 Cameroonian Muslims to travel to Mecca for Hajj 2023

More than 5,000 Muslims in Cameroon will be travelling to Mecca for this year’s pilgrimage, Hajj, which takes place in the last week of June.

The National Hajj Commission, chaired by Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, approved the number of pilgrims during an evaluation meeting in Yaounde last week.

At the meeting, the Commission disclosed that 3,165 pilgrims will travel on a regular flight ticket, while 1,850 private councillors of Hajj will travel in the VIP service.

“Basically, all the commissions have presented their reports as to Hajj of 2022. We have certain things that have to be corrected and we have asked the commission in charge to work with all the stakeholders so that the pilgrims should travel,” Minister Atanga Nji said in a press interview.

President Paul Biya subsidized the pilgrimage cost for pilgrims with a 1-billion-franc donation last week.

Minister Atanga Nji said this money will subsidize the costs of flight, feeding and lodging for the pilgrims.

“President Paul Biya gave a grant of 1 billion francs, which was distributed to all those who are traveling. Basically for most of the time, we have tried as much as possible to do an evaluation and we have seen that things are moving well, even though we have to correct certain issues,” Atanga Nji said.

Hajj, a yearly pilgrimage undertaken by Muslims, is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Based on the Koran, it is the duty of every adult, sane, free Muslim to perform it once in a life time.

It is estimated that this year’s pilgrimage will start in the evening of June 25 and will continue till the evening of June 30.

But this date is still tentative and it depends on when the moon of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month on the Islamic Calendar, will be sighted.