Tour Operators Tackle NAHCON Over N17.7bn Unrendered Hajj Service, Caution Fees
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators in Nigeria (AHOUN) has asked the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to refund the N15 billion for services paid by pilgrims but not rendered as well as tent security deposits from 2022 Hajj to date by the commission.
It also asked the commission to account for N2.7 billion it received and warehoused as caution deposit from its members for last year’s Hajj operation.
The latest faceoff came after NAHCON’s accused the tour operators of derailing preparations for the 2025 Hajj after its leadership directed its members to suspend preparations for next Hajj pending when their demands were addressed.
A statement issued at the weekend by the National President AHOUN, Abdullateef Ekundayo Yusuf, said NAHCON at its meeting with the operators, confirmed to have received 20 million Saudi Riyals of such refund from the Saudi authority since December last year, but had failed to notify them on the modalities of the refund payment
“Even this 20,000,000.00.SR if not for the investigation EFCC conducted on the Commission, we wouldn’t have known that it had been paid since December, 2023, we only got to know through media reports, before they now confirmed to us at our last meeting. What stopped them from calling the Tour Operators since December 2023 to come forward to claim their money? They kept quiet,” Yusuf said.
He added that NAHCON also received over N2.7 billion from his members last year noting the agreement with the commission was to release the funds two weeks after the conclusion of the Hajj.
According to him, rather than refund any of the companies that applied for it, NAHCON instead was asking for more money as increase to the last year’s deposit.
He lashed NAHCON of choosing to mislead the public about the Saudi 2025 Hajj calendar, to portray AHUON as the body frustrating the preparation of the upcoming Hajj.
“Nigeria has a total of 95,000 slots allocation, out of which Tour Operators have only 20,000. Why has the Commission been so perturbed about the preparation of the 20,000 as against the 75,000 of the State Pilgrim Boards,” he said.
The other grouse with the commission was its refusal to include its pilgrims in the federal government approved and released the sum of N90 billion as subsidy to Nigerians pilgrims last year in addition to lack of assistance to its members, who cannot access their millions of Saudi Riyals balances in their Saudi bank accounts.
