NAHCON moves to comply with Saudi Arabia’s order on 2025 Hajj pilgrimage

Tuesday, December 03, 2024 - The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, has inaugurated a committee tasked with screening and verifying the documents of Saudi-based service providers that applied to offer accommodation and catering services to Nigerian pilgrims for the 2025 Hajj operations.

The Saudi Arabian government mandates that accommodation and catering services must be provided by Saudi-based companies.

The committee, according to a statement jointly signed by Abdul-Basit Abba and Yusuf Muhammad Kulloma of NAHCON’s Information and Publications Division, is chaired by the Commissioner of Planning, Research, Statistics, Information and Library Services, Prof. Abubakar Abubakar Yagawal, while its members comprise experts from the state pilgrim welfare board and legal and technical staff of the commission.

Inaugurating the committee on Monday in Abuja, the chairman of the commission, Prof. Abdullahi Saleh, said the committee plays a critical role in ensuring the welfare and comfort of Nigerian pilgrims during the Hajj

operations.

“By selecting only the best and most compliant service providers, the commission is safeguarding the integrity of the Hajj operations and upholding the trust placed in us by the pilgrims,” he stressed.

He, however, charged the committee to fear Allah by upholding transparency, accountability, and diligence throughout the process to help NAHCON provide good services to the pilgrims.

Earlier in his remarks, the committee chairman sought the cooperation of his members in ensuring that only reputable and reliable service providers are selected to meet the accommodation and catering needs of Nigerian pilgrims during the holy pilgrimage.

According to Prof. Yagawal, the exercise is part of NAHCON’s traditional role in Hajj preparations.

The committee’s terms of reference as contained in the statement include obtaining the final list of eligible applicants as harvested by the ICT division, extracting eligible applicants from the portals and scrutinising the documents and prospects of the service providers that applied for the catering and pilgrim’s accommodation in Makkah and Madina for the 2025 Hajj operation.

Its functions also include producing the list of accredited service providers and taking other recommendations that will assist the commission in making an informed decision.