4,456 Nigerians Return From 2026 Hajj

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed the return of 4,456 pilgrims and officials from Saudi Arabia following the successful completion of the 2026 pilgrimage.

This included the arrival of 343 pilgrims and one official from Osun State at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos yesterday. They travelled aboard Saudi airline Flynas flight XY9488. Concurrently, 453 pilgrims and five officials from Gombe, Nasarawa and Bauchi states landed at Gombe Airport yesterday, having flown with MaxAir flight NGL271 from Jeddah.

The inbound airlift operations commenced on Thursday, June 4 with the return of 560 pilgrims from Nasarawa State. Those pilgrims had concluded the main hajj rites in the holy sites of Makkah, Mina, Arafat, Muzdalifah and Jamarat.

According to data released by the NAHCON command and control centre, the second return flight, Flynas flight XY9866, departed Jeddah for Kebbi at 5:53 am on June 4, carrying 426 pilgrims. Later that day, MaxAir flight NGL263 left Jeddah for Abuja at 10:54 am with 560 passengers, including 559 pilgrims from Nasarawa and one from Katsina State.

Also on June 4, Flynas flight XY9484 flew from Jeddah to Gateway International Airport, Iperu, Ogun State, at 3:54 pm, transporting 345 pilgrims from Ogun State. The fifth flight, UMZA flight UY3546, departed Jeddah for Abuja at 8:10 pm, carrying 14 pilgrims and 18 officials. This group included three pilgrims from Bauchi State and eleven from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), alongside various Hajj officials.

NAHCON reiterated that the return process was an integral part of its comprehensive logistics plan designed to ensure the smooth and orderly repatriation of all Nigerian pilgrims after the annual pilgrimage. The commission previously assured pilgrims and their families of safe and seamless return journeys, emphasising that robust arrangements had been put in place for the exercise.

During the outbound airlift, a total of 38,888 Nigerian pilgrims were transported to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as revealed by data from the NAHCON control room. This data indicated that four designated carriers airlifted the entire contingent in 98 flight operations over a period of 19 days. In a detailed breakdown, Max Air transported the highest number of pilgrims, 14,701, across 31 flights, while the Saudi designated carrier Flynas conveyed 11,005 pilgrims in 30 flight operations.