The Nigeria’s House of Representatives is not happy with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and the Federal Capital Territory Pilgrim Welfare Board over what it described as “poor services” rendered to, and mismanagement of pilgrims during the just concluded 2024 Hajj operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The House, after a motion of urgent public Importance , resolved to investigate the two bodies charged with taking care of the welfare of the pilgrims.
The motion was adopted today, July 11, after a member, representing Bauten/Kayama federal constituency of Kwara state, Mohammed Umar Bio, moved it.
He described Hajj exercise as an important pillar of Islam which needs proper handling, but expressed disappointment over the way NAHCON as a regulator, handled it.
He regretted that the Commission could not give good and satisfying services to the over 50,000 pilgrims that traveled for the 2024 pilgrimage.
According to him, NAHCON did not take care of pilgrims properly, especially in Makka and Muna, despite the N90 Billion made available by the Federal Government for the smooth execution of the annual pilgrimage.
He called on his colleagues to condemn the performance of NAHCON and FCT Pilgrims’ Welfare Board and to set up a committee to investigate the Commission.
Contributing to the motion, Ali Isa Jessy, from Gombe state, said that NAHCON was established after the Nigerian pilgrimage act with the sole purpose of supervising, coordinating and providing accommodation for pilgrims, including medical care, as well as other basic needs of the Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land.
He said that pilgrims in this year spent over eight million naira without being properly taken care of, even as he lamented that even VIPs spent over twenty million naira to travel but were not given tents in the Holy land, resulting in many of them sleeping in the open.
Ali Isa suggested that an ad-hoc committee should be set up to investigate the commission, “which claimed to have spent over N40 billion for this year’s hajj with no tangible satisfaction to the pilgrims.”
The Lawmaker said that he has already sponsored a bill to amend the NAHCON act, with the power to conduct hajj operations given to States for proper handling.
The motion was subsequently referred to an ad-hoc committee, to be constituted, for proper investigation into the matter.
