We wish to make an urgent call for immediate amendment to the Nigerian Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Act by the National Assembly.
The current NAHCON Act, enacted in 2006, is obsolete and cannot stand the test and demands of modern Hajj management, particularly as envisioned by the Vision 2030 reforms of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Experience is revealing that the future of Hajj belongs to the private tours operators as is obtainable in the other climes. Therefore, going further, any attempts to review the NAHCON Act should capture the private sector initiatives led by the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON), and its members should have representations on the NAHCON Board.
Tour operators are calling for a stay of action on the bidding for the 2025 Hajj license until NAHCON reconciles its accounts with the tour operators and pays all refunds outstanding, including the 2023 and 2024 caution deposits and those of services not rendered over the years. This includes refunds of all monies owed its members by the commission before the opening of a new bid for Hajj 2025.
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We also frown at the practice where tour operators’ allocation is been shared with other agencies of government against the good intentions of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj in promoting private sector participation in Hajj. We therefore call upon the commission to refrain from further encroachment on the 20,000 slots allocation to the private tour companies.
There is a popular demand for change of the particular sole service provider that has remained a perennial failure in providing optimum service to our pilgrims over the years or in the alternative, the engagement of multiple service providers as is being practiced by other countries.
We also recognise the need for tour operators to have a dedicated carrier to ease the perennial difficulties in the airlift of pilgrims and operators are always expected to uphold virtues and decorum in their dealings with pilgrims, who are the guests of Allah. The era of dirty and sub-standard service to pilgrims as well as individualistic approach to the business is over.
Abdullateef Yusuf Ekundayo is National President, Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON)
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