By Abdul-Ganiyy Akanbi <\/p>\n
A faith-based civil society organization, CSO, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has commended the Department of State Services, DSS, Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies for what it described as well-coordinated security arrangements that ensured a hitch-free 2026 Hajj for over 40,000 Nigerian pilgrims.<\/p>\n
In a statement weekend, signed by its National Coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammad, the group said the surveillance operations deployed to secure pilgrims\u2019 movement within Nigeria and during transit abroad were proactive and effective.<\/p>\n
IHR noted that Hajj operations involve complex logistics, including movement from homes to orientation centres, to Hajj camps, and across states to over 14 embarkation airports.<\/p>\n
\u201cHajj activities involve serious pilgrims\u2019 movements within Nigeria – from their houses to pilgrims\u2019 orientation centres, to Hajj camps, transiting between States to depart from airports located in other States, including landing and boarding from over 14 embarkation points across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe combined presence and participation of veiled security personnel contributed a lot in carrying out these activities without any serious incident throughout the 2026 Hajj period,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The group called on security agencies to sustain intelligence gathering and thorough screening of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims to prevent terrorists and other wanted persons from using pilgrimage as cover to travel abroad.<\/p>\n
It cited the recent arrest of some security-risk individuals in Katsina shortly after their arrival as proof that the current strategy is yielding results.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent arrest of some security-risk individuals in Katsina after their arrival is a product of sustained surveillance and coordination. We urge security agencies to maintain the tempo,\u201d IHR stated.<\/p>\n
IHR said the commendation aligns with its tradition of recognizing security agencies for outstanding service during Hajj operations. <\/p>\n
It recalled presenting awards of recognition to the DSS, Nigeria Police Force, and Nigeria Immigration Service during its post-Hajj lectures in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively.<\/p>\n
The CSO expressed hope that the synergy among security agencies will be sustained ahead of future Hajj and Umrah operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Abdul-Ganiyy Akanbi A faith-based civil society organization, CSO, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has commended the Department of State Services, DSS, Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies for what it described as well-coordinated security arrangements that ensured a hitch-free 2026 Hajj for over 40,000 Nigerian pilgrims. In a statement weekend, signed by its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15228,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15225\/revisions\/15228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}