Niger State Governor Umaru Bago has called for the scrapping of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, over alleged failures in managing Hajj operations.
The governor urged the federal government to allow the states and private sector to handle Hajj operations.
While decrying the inhumane nature pilgrims were subjected to, Mr Bago described the 2024 Hajj exercise as a failure.
The governor stated this during an interview in Saudi Arabia to assess this year’s Hajj exercise.
According to the governor, “NAHCON is supposed to be a regulator and not an operator, but NAHCON has decided to continue to play the part of operation, therefore, they have failed pilgrims.
“Let state governments organise hajj, screen their pilgrims, check their statuses health status, and even for those going as medical personnel, let us understand where they are coming from, scrutinise them, and know what and what they will be doing. But nobody scrutinises them because NAHCON is handling it,” said.
He vowed to lead a delegation of Nigerian governors to call for the review of the NAHCON laws.
“Let the private sector drive Hajj operations, NAHCON should be a regulator at the centre. If NAHCON must exist, then they should strictly be a regulator.
“I am leading a committee of governors to the NGF, from there we go to the NEC, I will propose this motion, and we will send a bill to the National Assembly where this issue of NAHCON would be reviewed,” he said.
He added that, “NAHCON is not helping matters. Our federal government is too big to be worried about Hajj operations, these are supposed to be local government issues and not even state issues.
‘The state government should be able to organise pilgrimages and get agents from the private sector who will do these things the best way as other countries are doing it,” he further stated.
Mr Bago also called for the probe of the N90 billion subsidy released to the commission by the federal government.
“There is a need for the National Assembly to probe these funds [N90 billion Federal Government subsidy to NAHCON for 2024 Hajj operations], he added.
“People paid N8 million for these operations directly before even the subsidy, and they got only $400, this is ridiculous.
“What is $400? Somebody paid N8 million to NAHCON, and you come and give them stipend of $400 to run themselves for one month?
He also confirmed the deaths of six indigenes of the state during this year’s exercise.
“We lost two [2] due to medical issues, and we lost another four (4) due to heat wave, in my state, and in Nigeria, I am sure it can’t be less than hundred [100] in general. This is not a good number, and this should stop,” the governor added.
