2023 Hajj Lapses Won’t Recur, Commission Assures Pilgrims

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) is to implement stringent measures to ensure that what transpired towards the end of the 2023 hajj at Masha’ir where thousands of Nigerian pilgrims were stranded in Muna and Arafat without bed spaces and food does reoccur in this year’s hajj.

The executive chairman of the commission, Malam Jalal Ahmad Arabi, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP Weekend in his office in Abuja.

Arabi, who appealed to Nigerian intending pilgrims to hasten payment for the 2024 hajj to enable the commission meet up with the Saudi Arabia authority’s timeline, said part of the measures was the ongoing vigorous screening of service providers to ensure that only firms with requisite capacity are engage to provide accommodation and catering services for Nigerian pilgrims at the religious sites and during the pilgrimage.

The cleric and retired federal permanent secretary who assumed duty as the fourth executive chairman of NAHCON on October 18, 2023 said his first 65 days in office had been eventful, working tirelessly with his colleagues to surmount the tasks ahead.

“You will recall that I only assumed here on October 18 and by the time we came, my predecessor and of course the colleagues I met on ground had already started preparation for the 2024 hajj . So, all I needed to do was to jump in and see how I can tag along and if there are areas that didn’t meet my humble expectations based on what I came with was to see how I can lure my partners that I met on ground to tag along with me in realising my objectives. That is what we did and I think that is what we are still doing,” he said.