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Says the Commission had become revenue generating agency
By Musa Baba Adamu
The Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON) had a caused the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) charging the highest licensing fee in the country.
The Association in its third and final part series tagged: “Why we withdrew from participating in 2025 Hajj exercise,” also accused the Commission of charging in Dollar denomination against the country’s extant laws.
The statement was signed by the Usman A. Ambursa, Haruna Isma’il and Ikrimah Muhammad.
AHUON, while detailing charges it pays to the Commission said while it was not in its place to ask the Commission how it arrived at what it charges Nigeria pilgrims, it was imperative for the NAHCON to come clean on the template it uses.
It revealed that its members contributed about N 2 billion to the coffers of the Commission last year alone.
It said: “Last year alone, tour companies contributed about two billion Naira to the coffers of the Commission in paying the following charges:
“Every tour operator paid Three Hundred Thousand Naira (N300,000) as application fee. Over two hundred and fifty applicants that indicated their interest to participate in the Hajj exercise paid this amount. Well over Seventy Five Million Naira (N75m) went to NAHCON from this.
“We paid One Million Naira (N1m) as license fee. Over 180 companies that were qualified by the Commission to operate paid over One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira (N180m).
“Nigeria’s Hajj license is the most expensive license in the country. One Million Naira for a license that last for only three months is by all standards of reckoning, highly exorbitant! And it does not matter whether you utilise the license or not.”
It also accused NAHCON of charging for services it does not render to the International Pilgrims.
“We paid what NAHCON called service charge on each Pilgrim at a Dollar rate of $150. One question that the Commission has not been able to answer over the years is, what service did they render to us or the pilgrims in return?
“For example, we provide enlightenment and education services at our cost. International Pilgrims do not patronise the government managed Hajj camps anywhere in the country. International Pilgrims do not attend the NAHCON clinics at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
“We provide medical services and guidance for our pilgrims. NAHCON does not even know when most of our pilgrims arrive at Jeddah or Madinah during Hajj, because we patronise international carriers, talk more of them providing Meet -and – Assist or ground services which we pay them for. Importantly, the pilgrims like any other citizen outside the country is entitled to free Consular services, that he does not have to pay for.
“How legal is it for the Commission to have been collecting charges in dollars all these years? Any sane person will ask repeatedly to know which services NAHCON provides to the international pilgrims that warrants such exploitation?”
It said in 2024 over 180 qualified companies provided a cash collateral of N20million which NAHCON referred to as Bank Guarantee of 20 million Naira, adding amount had been doubled for 2025.
“Nigerians are entitled to know if NAHCON is a revenue collection or self-financing entity. Is it by design, that it was established to impoverish the Muslim faithful while trying to perform this important journey of the faith? Or, maybe it is one of the many lies and deceptions we mentioned in the past about NAHCON, this it is another gimmick, another myth, another fallacy aimed at squeezing enough from the poor pilgrim to finance its jamboree travels and sponsorship programmes.
“Either way there is no nobility in this project. Either the Commission is lying or the government is not being fair to the Muslim community. Nigerians deserve to know the truth!”
It also accused the Commission of scheming to take over Umrah operations from it using a company in Saudi Arabia called GiiL TMS.
It said, if it goes through, tour operators would go through the company to participate in Umrah thereby increasing what Nigeria would pay.
On the vexed issue of Tent, the Association accused the Commission of refusing to heed to their advise against taking over the services from it, since it had made up its mind on becoming revenue generating agency.
It said 10 days before the start of the exercise, the commission was yet to finalize on the issue of Tent.
“The maltreatment , last year, of our leaders – the state governors; distinguished senators; honorable members of the House of Representatives and state assemblies; traditional rulers and other senior political and business leaders, and so many years before the last, are ignominious scores the Commission should not be proud of and should have worked harder this year to avoid.”
