Fresh facts have emerged on the alleged mishandling of this year’s hajj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the N90 billion subsidy granted to the pilgrims by the federal government.
Among others, the Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN) reportedly blew the lid when it accused the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) of excluding pilgrims who passed through its members from benefitting from the subsidy.
AHOUN reported that Nigerian pilgrims who performed this year’s hajj on the platform of its members did not benefit from the federal government’s N90 billion subsidy for the exercise despite NAHCON’s promises that its pilgrims would be considered in any concession received from the government.
According to spokesperson of the Abuja zone of AHUON, Alhaji Adamu Hassan Abdullahi, the pilgrims who performed the 2024 hajj on the platform of its members (tour operators) were supposed to benefit from the N90 billion subsidy since it was meant for Nigerian pilgrims.
“Are tour operators’ pilgrims not Nigerians? Why were they exempted from the government’s intervention?
“This year, about 14,000 pilgrims performed the hajj exercise through the international segment (tour operators), but none of our members benefited from the N90 billion that NAHCON claimed to have distributed to Nigerian pilgrims despite our demands,” he had said.
Following the accusation and outcries from other stakeholders, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reportedly waded into the matter and grilled the NAHCON chairman, Jalal Arabi, for over seven hours for alleged mismanagement of the 2024 hajj fund.
Consequently, three directors from the commission were quizzed in connection with the issue.
Arabi arrived at the EFCC’s headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, at about 10am on that day, was later granted administrative bail.
An EFCC source said the commission received some petitions against Arabi and that he needed to clarify himself.
According to the source, “He was invited to the commission’s office to explain how his commission spent the N90 billion subsidy provided for the 2024 hajj exercise.
“The allegations he was asked to explain date back to 2021, not just the just concluded exercise issue,” the sources said.
On the directors invited earlier, the source said, “Three directors from the commission have been invited to explain what they know about the issue. They include the director of procurement, director of finance, and director
Arabi and the commission’s secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, were detained at the EFCC facility on Wednesday over the alleged mismanagement of the N90 billion 2024 hajj subsidy.
According to an EFCC document, the anti-graft agency recovered a total of SR314,098 (N133,920,150.03) from the NAHCON chairman and other ranking officials.
EFCC investigation also revealed that Arabi allegedly overpaid himself and others from the N90 billion Hajj subsidy.
As stipulated in the document, the approved 2024 hajj operational costs for the chairman, commissioners, secretary, and directors/chief of staff in the 2024 budget are $4,250, $12,750, $3,825, and $15,300.
“The chairman was entitled to SR15,929 but he got SR50,000; three commissioners who were meant to get SR 15,929 each, received SR 40,000 each. The secretary got SR 30,000 instead of SR14,336; directors/chief of staff received SR 30,000 instead of the SR2,550 they were entitled to. A total of SR314,098 were recovered from all of them.”
The anti-graft agency had first grilled Arabi for hours on July 29 and released him on bail, while some top officials of the Hajj commission were allegedly arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) last week over the same issue.
Also, last week, the ICPC interrogated a top official of the NAHCON.
The NAHCON official, whose full details have not been known, was arrested by ICPC operatives at his office on Wednesday, August 7, 2024.
ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare confirmed the agency’s operatives’ visit to NAHCON, but he said it was not a raid.
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