HAJJ BY ROAD

The continued astronomical rise in the cost of travelling for the Hajj by Air from Nigeria gave rise to discourses on the possibilities of reactivating the use of land routes. This Author was the Secretary General of the Nigerian Council on Hajj by Road that sent an Expert Trial Team by road from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia in 1997 in an effort to explore the Land Route. This Book gives a brief history of the ancient Hajj travels from West Africa and the Sahel Region. It also gives an account of the journey by the first West African who travelled for the Hajj by his motor vehicle in 1929, the first Waziri of Katsina Sheikh Alhaji Haruna.

The 1929 journey by the Waziri of Katsina opened the vehicular route for Nigerian and West African Pilgrims and Merchants to travel by road to the Sudanese Suakin Red Sea Port from 1931 to 1951 when Hajj Airlift started from Kano Airport. For example, Pilgrims from Ghana would join those from Niger Republic at Niamey. They will then travel and join those in Kano, to travel to Maiduguri, to Fort Lamy, to El-Obeid to Khartoum; and finally to the Red Sea Port of Suakin, where they will cross by Ship to Jeddah. HRH the Emir of Katsina Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko made the Hajj by road in 1933 and HRH the Emir of Kano Alhaji Abdullahi Bayero made the Hajj by road in 1937. Emir of Kanem-Bakashe Wage in Niger Republic made it in 1934 and Alkaidi Toure in 1938. A Report on these 20 years Hajj by Road Travels and that of the 1997 Trial Team’s Travel are given in this Book.

This Book also discusses the Rail Route possibility, which was interestingly nurtured by the Northern Nigerian Government in the early 1960s. Currently, the agreement in 2017 between China, Sudan and Chad for the Chinese to construct a standard gauge rail line from N’Djamena in Chad to Port Sudan on the Red Sea means only connecting the Maiduguri rail line in Nigeria to that of N’Djamena in Chad Republic, which is a distance of only 270 Km. This shall not only provide Nigerian Muslims with a cheaper means of performing the Hajj, but shall provide avenues for cultural, social and economic development along the routes. Likewise, Northern Nigeria shall benefit from an alternative Sea Port facility at the Red Sea for commercial and other purposes.