Act fast to bring order to NAHCON

With barely a month to the start of the 2025 Hajj, indications are that the chances of a hitch-free operation are in doubt. This followed the discordant tunes coming out from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), the body charged with regulating the conduct of the exercise. Recent reports show that the commission is […]

With barely a month to the start of the 2025 Hajj, indications are that the chances of a hitch-free operation are in doubt. This followed the discordant tunes coming out from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), the body charged with regulating the conduct of the exercise.

Recent reports show that the commission is enmeshed in crises from both within and outside.

A front-page report by this paper on April 8, 2025, showed that there is a split in the board of the commission, which is its highest decision-making organ.

According to the report, six non-permanent members of the board have petitioned the Office of the Vice President, accusing the board’s chairman of excluding them from the decision-making process.

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The board members said, though Section 4(1) of the NAHCON Establishment Act, 2006, gives details of all the basic functions of the commission, the commissioners had not been sufficiently carried along in most of its functions as outlined in the section under reference.

The petitioners alleged that they were sidelined by the commission from the pre-hajj visits to Saudi Arabia, the fixing of Hajj fares, the selection of tour operators and Saudi service providers, and procurement, among other oversight functions.

“Each time a board member is asked to join the select team for a pre-Hajj trip, he/she is left to source funds to purchase an air ticket and obtain an entry visa from the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Abuja with no administrative support in all arrangements connected to the trip.

“This is even as pre-Hajj visits are supposed to be appropriated for in NAHCON’s annual budget. The reimbursement of all travelling expenses is done only after the members’ arrival in Saudi Arabia,” part of the allegation said.

They also accused the chairman of financial high-handedness, saying not a single procurement matter had ever been brought before the board since its inauguration over a year ago.

“Fare for 2025 was announced to the public without the knowledge of the board. We had no knowledge of how the fare was arrived at. It was after the fare became public knowledge that a Zoom meeting was called for the board to ratify it. This was after we raised an alarm. This, no doubt, is a clear disregard for due process.

“As members of the commission who should be part of the duties specified in Section 4a (i & i), a list of approved tour operators for the 2025 Hajj exercise was prepared and released without any input from the board. It was never brought to the board,” they said.

The aggrieved commissioners also alleged that the executive team of NAHCON had always argued that the NAHCON Act only allows the board to meet for not more than a maximum of four times annually.

“We have discovered that there’s no place anywhere in the Act establishing NAHCON that mentions the number of times the board should meet in a year.”

The report also mentioned disquiet among the staff of the commission. It said barely a month ago, the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria, NAHCON chapter, had reportedly written a protest letter to the chairman, alleging favouritism and unjust placement of pool officers over the commission’s workers.

The workers said the problems might affect the morale of dedicated NAHCON staff and hinder the commission’s efficiency in fulfilling its mandate.

Again, three executive members of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN), in a joint statement, announced their withdrawal from the 2025 Hajj exercise owing to “the arm-twisting tactic” of the commission in selecting service providers for them.

They alleged that pilgrims were maltreated and offered substandard and inhumane services across the Masha’ir during the five days of pilgrimage in Muna, Arafah and Muzdalifah.

They accused the commission of excluding them from choosing service providers, selections or service negotiations, among others.

In reaction, the commission’s chairman, Professor Abdullahi Usman, said 15 out of the 19 board members were part-time with advisory roles and, therefore, not responsible for overseeing daily office procedures or procurement.

He said, however, that board members form part of committees based on their specialities, such as the establishment committee that oversees staff promotions and other matters and the financial and general purpose committee.

He said it is traditional that during pre-Hajj visits, some board members are selected to join the team on offshore assignments that are fieldwork carried out by staff.

 “The bottom line is that each member is involved in different activities according to their schedule but cannot form part of all the daily activities of the commission. They are part of policy decision-making, not daily activities,” he said.

We at the Daily Trust are deeply concerned that the commission, at this critical period, is embroiled in numerous internal disputes, which will certainly affect the conduct of the hajj operations.

Given that the fate of more than 50,000 prospective Nigerian pilgrims is at stake, we call for a quick intervention by the Presidency to ensure our pilgrims do not suffer in a foreign land.

It is regrettable that NAHCON has, in the last few months, been in the news for the wrong reasons. We recall that its immediate past chairman was relieved of his position just eight months ago due to alleged fraud. It is, therefore, incumbent on the current leadership to strive towards redeeming the image of the commission.