By Musa Baba Adamu
The Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON), the umbrella body of Tour Operators has called on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) address its concerns instead of playing the public against it.
The Association accused the Commission of refusing to refund about N15 billion incurred through various charges and fees even as it accused NAHCON of refusal to sit with it to iron out the issue.
The Association, which spoke yesterday in Abuja at a press conference countered NAHCON’s suggestion that was frustrating next year’s Hajj preparations.
It would be recalled that AHUON had directed its members to suspend preparations for the 2025 Hajj exercise due to NAHCON failure to pay up its financial indebtedness to it even after several Letters to the Commission.
At the Conference addressed by its National President, Abdullateef Ekundayo Yusuf, the Association, AHUON wondered why the Commission was bothered about the Association’s suspended preparations for 2025 when it had 75,000 intending pilgrims to worry about.
It said the Commission had carried on as if Tour Operators which catered for 20,000 out of the 95,000 allocation as if it does not matter only for it issue Statement suggesting its importance.
The Association said it had written the Commission about five Letters since June only for it respond this month without addressing its concerns.
It said: “ The Association requested for a meeting with the Commission on the 23rd of June 2024, at their Makkah office, but they turned down our request, we had to wait till the 10th of September, 2024when they decided to invite us. How can NAHCON said they are open to dialogue with the Association.”
It described as unfortunate that NAHCON had chosen 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 75,000of the State Pilgrim Boards.
“Clearly, the Commission is only after the money they want to collect from our members to use it to support their usual jamboree trips to Saudi Arabia.
“Talking about the Hajj calendar, we have four months to the start of issuance of the Hajj visa which will run for another two good months and end on April 18th. Therefore, the Commission has ample time to deal with the matter at hand if they really want.”
AHUON called on the Commission to , “address the several pending issues, we presented.
“We wish to call upon the Commission to address issues instead of passing judgement on who performs Hajj 2025 and who will not perform.”
It called on the Commission to refund its members over N15 Billion, and over N2.7 Billion being caution deposit and many other financial commitments to it and its members.
“ From the year 2004 to date the Commission has attested to have held our members funds through several engagements example unused visa, excess payments, Umrah deposit etc., and have not shown any sign of refunding such funds. In fact, our agreement with the Commission to publish the list of the companies under this category since last year have not been met. It is worth noting that many of our members have passed on waiting for these refunds.
“In addition, to the above, for many years now some of our members have millions of Saudi Riyals balances in their Saudi accounts (IBAN), which they can’t access. For over three years now we have engaged the Commission to facilitate the release of those funds to our members, but it refuses to do anything about the issue.”
The Commission in a statement issued last Friday however, assured that it was doing everything possible to come to some agreement with the Association.
In a statement signed by Fatima Sanda Usara, Assistant Director, Public Affairs, the Commission said: “while we acknowledge the issues raised regarding accumulated refunds, it is important to clarify that NAHCON has been in continuous communication with AHOUN on this matter and remains committed to addressing all legitimate concerns.
“The delay in resolving certain financial issues stems from the complexities of Hajj operations, which involve multiple stakeholders both locally and internationally, including Saudi authorities.
“NAHCON wishes to reassure AHOUN and the general public that the Commission has no intention of downplaying or neglecting the issue of refunds. On 24th September 2024, NAHCON communicated with AHOUN regarding the urgency of aligning with the Saudi Hajj calendar to avoid disruptions in the 2025 Hajj preparations, a position we still maintain as critical.”
