N90bn Hajj Subsidy: EFCC Detains NAHCON Chairman, Recovers SR314,098

The chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Jalal Arabi, and the commission‘s secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, are currently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the alleged mismanagement of the N90 billion 2024 Hajj subsidy.

According to the EFCC document, the anti-graft agency recovered “a total of SR314,098” from the NAHCON chairman and other ranking officials.

EFCC investigation revealed that Arabi allegedly overpaid himself and others for the N90bn 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. The total of SR314,098 were recovered from all of them.”

Recall that 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.