Scrap pilgrims welfare commissions now

Last year alone, government expended about N530 million on overhead and about N165million on capital projects for only the National Hajj Commission. About the same figure was spent on Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission. Indeed, well over N500 million was paid as salaries only, to about 220 staff of the two commissions.  With what happened now […]

Last year alone, government expended about N530 million on overhead and about N165million on capital projects for only the National Hajj Commission. About the same figure was spent on Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission. Indeed, well over N500 million was paid as salaries only, to about 220 staff of the two commissions.  With what happened now in Saudi Arabia, what is the rational for having the commissions?  In truth, if the pilgrims were left to fend for themselves, they would have taken steps to avoid the humiliation they just went through by following all the injunctions for performing the hajj. Instead, the matter was left in the hands of bureaucrats who normally handle everything “as we used do it”. Thus, due to lack of initiative, our officials did not monitor the state of mind of the Saudis to observe their new posture. Otherwise, they would have heard of the allegation that as many as 5000 Nigerian pilgrims deflected at the end of last year’s hajj and are now working illegally in Saudi Arabia. They probably would have heard the rumour too that 60% of the deflectors were females. If these allegations have any semblance of truth, shouldn’t our hajj mangers have anticipated some toughing up of the rules to prevent a recurrence?

If, our hajj administrators did not seem to know that to forecast, as well as to plan and monitor are also part of management, they did not also appreciate the essence of vicarious liability. The first set of statements showed that the officials were truly Nigerians as they sang discordant tunes. While some accepted, others denied the deportation of our pilgrims. Thereafter, our father- the government-went into what it knows how to do well; talking tough and acting soft. Saudi Arabia was given 48 hours ultimatum to fall in line but some 72 hours later, it was Nigeria that was searching for the line to fall into. When the final explanation came, it took the form of our ‘no victor no vanquished’ approach as we happily told the world that the whole problem was due to the existence of many interpretations of the rule that male escorts must accompany female pilgrims.  If so, does it not stand to reason that the version of the host nation would prevail? In any case was it the difference in interpretation that made some of the deported women to board different aircrafts from the men who were supposed to lead them?

Well, Nigeria may have to recruit many new interpreters otherwise our Christian pilgrims might face the same ugly situation at a point. This is because those that we call Christian pilgrims are not so classified in the state of Israel. We hear that in that ‘holy’ state, the correct classification is‘tourists’. What this implies is that someday, Israel may not see the relevance of religion while dealing with our so called pilgrims. But we can save ourselves all the trouble if we can just allow religion to be what it is- a personal matter. Government involvement in pilgrimages in particular is frivolous. Christians for example proclaim loudly that God is omnipresent and that He is WHEREVER 2 or 3 are gathered in His name; meaning that Christians can pray anywhere.  But if some of them think that it is easier to see God in the ‘holy’ city of Jerusalem, instead of the kidnapping cities of Nigeria so be it for them. No one should use tax payers’ money to assist such people. On their part, Muslims say Allah does not expect those who cannot afford it to perform hajj. We have no business therefore using public funds to compel some Muslims to be part of what they have been divinely exempted from.

In addition, the Nigerian constitution which clearly provides for a secular state does not expect government to embrace any religious grouping whether dominant or small.  What the Constitution provides in Section 10 is that “The Government of the federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion”. Adoption here does not necessarily mean a formal declaration. To allow prayers to be said before and after all official government functions in line with the tradition of 2 religious groups suggests that it is those two that constitute State Religion. Second, the establishment of Pilgrim Boards to cater for the welfare of adherents of only two specific religious groups who travel abroad at certain times of the year just to pray is logically not at par with the letter and spirit of the said Section 10 of our Constitution.

If we scrap our pilgrims’ commissions, we can deploy the huge sums hitherto expended on them to undertake projects that can impact on all our people.