1 month ago
12 ARTICLE AD
The Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria has claimed that none of its members on this year’s Hajj pilgrimage benefitted from the N90bn released by the Federal Government to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria to support the pilgrims.
The association made the claim in a Sunday statement by its National President, Abdullateef Ekundayo, and General Secretary, Muhammed Chamo, amid the probe of the NAHCON Chairman, Jalal Arabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for alleged mismanagement of the N90bn Hajj subsidy.
The NAHCON chairman was a guest of the EFCC last week where he was grilled by investigators for several hours.
Following the alarm raised by the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Bago, the National Assembly had opened a probe of NAHCON over the alleged misuse of the N90bn.
However, addressing the press last week, Arabi insisted that the funds were transparently utilised, dismissing insinuations of corruption.
“Each pilgrim was supported with N1,637,369.87 from the N90bn except for pilgrims under the Hajj Savings Scheme who enjoyed more. Hence, all registered intending pilgrims, except those on HSS, were required to pay a balance of N1,918,094.87 since the N90bn was not sufficient to make up for the balance,” Arabi maintained.
But in its statement on Sunday, AHUON claimed no pilgrim benefited from the N90bn.
The association said, “Firstly, we would like Nigerians to know that none of the international pilgrims received a dime out of the N90bn graciously approved and released as a subsidy to ease the burden of the high exchange rate, despite many promises by the commission that our pilgrims will be considered in any concession that is received from the government.
“For the past eight years, (with the exception of the post-COVID-19, Hajj), the Ministry of Hajj of Saudi Arabia allocates 20,000 slots for Nigerian private tour operators (International) which AHOUN represents, and 75,000 to conventional pilgrims.
“This year, about 14,000 pilgrims performed the Hajj exercise through the international segment but we repeat, none of our members benefited from the N90bn as NAHCON claimed to have distributed to Nigerian pilgrims despite our demands. Are the international pilgrims not Nigerians? We’re determined to continue to ask for the share of these funds from the Federal Government for our Nigerian (Hujjaj) pilgrims.”
AHUON also challenged NAHCON on why it charged $100 on every pilgrim, amounting to $1,400,000,000 and declined liaising with the registered service provider.
It also challenged NAHCON to name tour operators it claimed were involved in ‘Tent A’ racketeering while calling on the National Assembly to further investigate issues relating to the management of Hajj in Nigeria.
