Why we chose Ithra’a Al Joud as Service Provider – AHUON

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON) has clarified on reason behind its choice of Ithra’a Al Joud as Service Provider.

The Association had been embroiled in disagreement with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) over operational preference, promoting it to opt out of this year’s Hajj exercise.

In a statement signed by  Usman A. Ambursa  and Haruna Isma’il of Travel Express Ltd, Abuja An-Noor Air Services and Tours Ltd, Kano as well as  Ikrimah Muhammad of Positive Trends Travel and Tours Ltd, Kaduna, the Association said the Service Provider came top among the compnies that provided service last year.

Describing the present management of NAHCON as Machiavellian, AHUON accused it of self serving for withdrawing from its contract with the Company.

“ Hajj is about service offering to the Pilgrims, and last year (2024), Ithra’a provided the best service to our economy class pilgrims (Tent D). Nobody can deny that fact! For the past 10 years or more, Nigerian Pilgrims at the Tent D have not witnessed superb service like what they enjoyed at the Masha’ir last year. That was Ithra’a’s achievement in conjunction with AHUON’s input and supervision.

“We are aware of the fact that the company has been reorganised. After the 2024, Hajj and they weeded out those nasty elements in and around the company that have been conniving with some NAHCON officials to engage in shady activities at the Tent A segment, at the Masha’ir. Those awful elements were well known in the Hajj circle and are the ones promoting the current service provider that NAHCON is imposing on Nigerian Pilgrims.”

It said its negotiation with the company led to the refund of money not earned .

“We negotiated with Ithra’a and they refunded all the outstanding refunds of our members from the year 2022 to 2024. In total, they refunded about 1.3 million Saudi Riyals into the NAHCON account, on behalf of our members, being refunds for services either not rendered to the Pilgrims, or services delivered below standard.

“The Commission as we have always complained,  had done nothing in the three-year struggle for the refund of the monies, despite the fact that some of our members have been persecuted or even jailed because of the refunds that resulted in court cases.

“The payment was made through NAHCON account on 21st of January, but NAHCON refused to pay the affected companies until 3rd April, after the reports of the public hearing on the 2024 Hajj, were released by the National Assembly. The reports indicted the Commission on the issue. That was the day NAHCON quickly released a list claiming that they have refunded the affected companies through the IBAN account of their lead companies. We are yet to verify the veracity of the Commission’s claim. Even if it was true, what happens to those companies that have not applied for a license this year or have decided to withdraw from participating and are not under any lead company?”

It also praised the service provider for its local knowledge of Nigeria market, saying it was one the reasons that endeared it to the Association.

“Another important reason why we accepted to move on with the Ithra’a Al Jood is their experience and knowledge of the Nigeria market for over 20 years and the commitment they exhibited in the 2024 Hajj by accepting and fulfilling all requests we put forward to them at the Masha’ir. This year a lot of innovations were introduced in the service offering to give Pilgrims the choices to decide the level of service and convenience they wanted to enjoy.

“Ithra’a Al Jood management were very transparent since last Hajj in the way and manner they provided item-by-item breakdown of the content of their contract. There were no hidden fees or obscure charges and false items in their contract offer. As we speak today, our colleagues are just paying money into NAHCON’s bank account without full information of the details of the contracts signed on our behalf by the Commission.

“Our direct negotiation has cut down any third-party interference and gave us the opportunity to receive an excellent offer. For example, the first price released to our members by NAHCON from Mashariq Al Mutamayizah Company was 4,050 Saudi Riyals, but Ithra’a offered a better price of 3,806 Saudi Riyals on their economy plus package. Note that, the price was on economy plus (Tent D+), not the lower economy package (Tent D).

“Ithra’a Al Joud has honored all their component part of the bargain as enumerated above. It is most honorable that we give them another chance, which we have no regret offering.”

Expressing its surprise at the decision of the Commission to back out of Contract with regards to Tent A with the Service Provider two days after signing the contract, the Association wondered why provision of Tent A became the business of the Commission.

“On 20th of January, after several delays and requests for amendments to the Ithra’a proposed contract, by NAHCON the Chairman/CEO of the Commission signed it, on behalf of the tour operators in a small ceremony at the Commission’s office in Makkah. It was a celebration of hope because of the many advantages the contract carries. Firstly, it was cheaper than the one signed by NAHCON with Mashariq Al Mutamayizah company by almost 250 Saudi Riyals. Secondly, it spelt out details of the offering for everyone to see. Thirdly and importantly, the offer from Ithra’a Al Joud came in four categories: the basic economy package (Tent D), the economy plus (Tent D+), the VIP package (Tent A) and the VIP plus (Tent A+), to provide the pilgrim the right to choose from among the different offerings.

“To our surprise two days after the signing of the contract, the Chairman of the Commission invited us to his office in Makkah for a meeting and instructed us to withdraw the Tent A portion from the Ithra’a contract. That was the same contract he signed and delivered two days earlier! His reason was that he has already signed another contract with Rawaf Mina, exclusively to provide Tent A service to Nigerians. It was a well-known fact that the organization, marketing and provision of tent A services to high-net-worth Pilgrims in Nigeria is the sole responsibility of the tour operators. What brought NAHCON into this business, we are yet to comprehend.

“According to the Chairman, NAHCON has already written letters to all State Governors, National Assembly members, Senior Civil servant and some top businessmen (and businesswomen) that it has Tent A for sale and Rawaf Mina has been allocated those slots. It took us over three hours trying to explain to the Chairman and his team at the meeting that NAHCON, as a regulator, has no business marketing Hajj services to individuals and institutions. Besides, VIP visas traditionally are only being processed and issued on the tour operators’ e-track (Nusuk) platform. We further asked, assuming the Governors and others indicated interest and paid for the service through NAHCON, whom among the 118 licensed companies would they choose to provide the high-end service for them? None of the NAHCON team could answer that question convincingly. This shows the level of decay in the Commission in terms of rent-seeking and subjectivity.”