The heads of state pilgrims’ boards in six southwestern states have written to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, alleging a deliberate withholding of 2022 pilgrims refund by the immediate-past leadership of the commission.
In 2022, about 9,000 intending pilgrims were not airlifted to Saudi Arabia for hajj by NAHCON, despite fulfilling all the requirements, with some of them making payment since 2019, while others in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
In 2022 hajj, a total of 42,000 Nigerian pilgrims (30,000 through states and 12,000 through private tour operators) performed the hajj, which was marred by multifaceted challenges ranging from airlift, accommodation, feeding, local transport, among others.
The six states of the Southwest had a total of 3,422 pilgrims: Lagos (1,562), Osun (460), Ogun (497), Ondo (191), Ekiti (83), and Oyo (629) for the 2022 hajj.
In a petition sent to the NAHCON new Chairman and CEO, Jalal Arabi, the boards alleged that the immediate past Chairman of NAHCON, Zikirullah Kunle-Hassan, “unjustifiably” excluded them from the 2022 hajj refunds for services that were not rendered or rendered unsatisfactory
The petition, dated October 31, 2023, alleged that Mr Zikrullah had “appropriately” refunded other states in the country, “leaving out states from Southwest without due justification for such.”
The petition was signed by pilgrims’ secretaries D.B Salau (Ogun), Onipede Saheed (Lagos), Omoniyi Mohammed M (Ondo), Egbeyemi Ishaq A (Ekiti), Khadijat J. Olanipekun (Oyo), and Murithadar Fakunle (Lagos).
The petition reads: “We wish to humbly draw your attention to the above-mentioned subject matter and to request payment for refund due to our states in Southwest as done to other states.
“For your information sir, during the 2022 Hajj exercise, States Pilgrims Boards/Agencies/Commissions complained bitterly about poor services rendered by Saudi Arabia-appointed service providers at Masha’ir (Muna and Arafat) and the same were [sic] communicated to the Saudi government accordingly for refund.
“Thereafter, NAHCON duly informed the States’ Pilgrims Boards/Agencies/Commissions that Saudi Arabia had made a refund with respect to the unenjoyed services rendered.
“To the surprise of the States in the Southwest, we discovered that some states in other parts of the country had been refunded appropriately for the services not enjoyed, leaving out states from the Southwest without due justification for such.
“It is on this note that we hereby write to kindly request for refund due to each state in the Southwest on the basis of equity and transparency in accordance with parameters used in calculating those states already refunded.
“While congratulating you on your appointment as the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the commission and wishing you a fruitful tenure, kindly look into our case on the basis of just, equity and transparency.”
But when contacted, the NAHCON spokesperson, Fatima Sanda-Usara, disclosed that the commission under Mr Zikirullah had disbursed the 2022 hajj refunds to states that were qualified.
“States with genuine cases were paid. Some states deliberately don’t fill the forms for refunds, where they do, they leave the space meant for describing the quality of services blank.
“That is one of the challenges we are facing. Some of these states only come up with claims after they see genuine states being paid,” Mrs Usara added.
