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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Zikrullah Hassan, has disclosed how NAHCON negotiated away overheads for Nigerian pilgrims.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja, he also disclosed how NAHCON relieved pilgrims of financial burdens and insisted on high quality welfare for Nigerian pilgrims.
Hassan recalled the preparations for the hajj of 2022, which he said, took just about six months preparation since hajj had been cancelled for two previous years to the utmost distaste of intending pilgrims.
He said when the 2022 hajj was finally announced by the Saudi Arabian authorities, the number to be allowed had been severely slashed by more than 50 per cent.
Hassan further said Nigeria that used to be allowed to present 95,000 pilgrims had its own cut down to 43,000.
“With less than six months to tidy up, there had also appeared some other unusual intervening variables to contend with.
“Following a blanket cessation of all economic activities at the peak of COVID-19, productivity had declined so substantially. Economies of different countries have been struggling. Currencies, therefore, across the world, including those stronger than ours, some of them in the developed world, have been merely floating.
“With our expertise as a business enthusiast and manager and conscious of our aspirations and advocacy on welfare for Nigerian muslim pilgrims dating back to previous roles in this sector, we took on the challenge of negotiating away some overheads for Nigerian pilgrims to relieve them of some financial burdens, even as we insisted on high quality welfare.
“We dispensed with as many middlemen as possible in all transactions. Not again are Nigerian pilgrims quartered in some difficult terrains. This year, we shared, so to say, same level with at least, D8 countries like Turkey, the fastest growing economy in Europe, as well as Bangladesh, currently the world’s largest producer of garments and indeed, one country with the highest radicalized agricultural reforms.
“We are even poised to achieve more as NAHCON staff are now being prepared to take on additional challenge of hajj period passport management hitherto the exclusive preserve of Saudi agencies for some handsome fee.”
Hassan further said NAHCON was poised to advance Nigerians’ interest in Saudi Arabia and will deploy all relevant endowments in that direction, particularly its experiential assets.
