NAHCON: Pilgrims travelling with over 60,000 riyals must declare on arrival

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has asked pilgrims to avoid carrying sums exceeding 60,000 Saudi Riyals or its equivalent for the 2025 hajj.

The riyal is the currency used in several Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia.

Shafii Mohammed, NAHCON’s principal information officer, gave the warning in a notice issued in Abuja on Wednesday.

“Pilgrims must fill out the customs declaration form if they are in possession of cash exceeding 60,000 riyals,” the notice reads.

“The same applies to valuables matching that value such as precious metals, precious stones or gold bars.”

The commission, in a separate notice, appealed to the state welfare boards to forward manifests of their intending pilgrims to its Madina office, 24 hours before arrival.

Aliyu Abdulhameed, NAHCON’s Medina committee head on passport management control, said it aims to ease NUSUK card issuance for arriving pilgrims.

The Saudi hajj ministry mandated a NUSUK card for 2025 pilgrims to verify identities and grant access to Makkah, Madina, and Masha’ir holy sites.

“Since their arrival in the Kingdom on May 5, the committee has been working round the clock to get the cards ready before the arrival of Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

“Though, they work nonstop to achieve the maximum results, we also appeal to all stakeholders particularly the state welfare boards to forward manifest of their intending pilgrims to the Madina office 24 hours before the arrival of the pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“This will ease the issuance and activation of the NUSUK card for the pilgrims as they arrive.”