Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria, AHOUN, has called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency, investigate 2022 Hajj operation in the country.
National President of the association, Nasidi Sulaiman, made the call at a press briefing, held in Kano on Friday.
He said over 700 international intending pilgrims that are supposed to travel to the holy land for this year’s pilgrimage had missed the journey after being stranded in Kano, Abuja and Lagos for days.
According to Mr Sulaiman, the problem happened because the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON has failed to provide alternative carriers as rescue flight to airlift the stranded pilgrims.
“We appeal to the federal government of Nigeria to as a matter of urgency set up a powerful and genuine panel to review this year’s Hajj activity from scratch.
“What happened is really pathetic in the history of Hajj operation in the country. There is need to restore sanity in the future operations,” he said.
According to the chairman, the action had caused a lot of damages to operational reputations of their companies, adding that their clients had suffered lots of emotional trauma after missing the holy exercise.
“Therefore, we called on NAHCON to immediately start remitting the entire amount we paid to them for unward disbursement to our clients,” he said.
Furthermore, AHUON requested the National Assembly to set up committee that will look into the consideration of amending NAHCON Act 2006, so that all stakeholders especially tour operators have important role to play in the system.
They also appealed to the affected intending pilgrims to accept the association’s deep regrets and apologies, promising to refund all the money they paid in due course.
