NAHCON Blames Air Carriers for 2022 Hajj Operation Hitches

Olawale Ajimotokan

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has blamed the hiccups in the operation of the 2022 Hajj on the failure of the airlines to fulfill the airlift agreement for the 2022 hajj.
NAHCON spokesperson, Fatima Sanda Usara, was quoted in a statement yesterday to have stated that although all air carriers were charged with the responsibility of providing two big capacity aircraft for the airlift, only one of the carriers fulfilled this obligation by the end of the regular operations period even though their entitlements were paid in line with the signed agreement.
NAHCON had on June 3, 2022, signed agreement with Max Air, Azman Air and FlyNas to airlift pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
It had also revealed that an agreement that was entered with one of the airlines to provide aircraft that would transport licensed tour operators’ pilgrims for the Hajj was also never fulfilled.
As a result of these encumbrances, only 40,000 of the anticipated 43,000 Nigerians were airlifted to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj after the Saudi granted Nigeria landing lease permit extension of July 6.
The aviation inconsistencies and failure to follow flight itinerary led to 25 flight cancellations. NAHCON also highlighted other hiccups to the exercise to include slow visa processing due to insufficiency of funds in some tour operators’ wallet to enable spontaneous visa processing and poor server issues that forced suspension of visa issuance to pilgrims.
NAHCON said the leadership of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operations in Nigeria was conversant with the steps it took to resolve the deadlock arising for the visa delays for private tour operators.
“The newest is an allegation that seems to insinuate that NAHCON collected additional monies from stranded pilgrims of licensed tour operators. In unambiguous terms, NAHCON does not collect Hajj fare from any pilgrim, whether from the private or public quota.

“It has never been the commission’s tradition nor will it start now. Whoever has claims of being financially shortchanged can forward their grievances to the appropriate offices for investigation,” NAHCON said.