NAHCON Commissioner Denies Favouring South-South Staff For 2025 Hajj Operation

The Commissioner for Policy, Personnel, and Finance at the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Aliyu Abdulrazaq, has denied claims that he is favouring South-south staff selection for the 2025 Hajj operation.

A report had claimed that NAHCON is currently facing allegations of racketeering and unscrupulous practices in its selection process for ad-hoc staff for the 2025 Hajj operation.

According to the allegation, the situation arises shortly after the NAHCON Chairman/CEO, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, inaugurated the Principal Officers of the National Medical Team (NMT) and its Steering Committee for the upcoming 2025 Hajj.

The report alleged that ethnic and sectional considerations influenced the staff selection of the 2025 Hajj officials.

It specifically claimed that Abdulrazak was among NAHCON‘s top officials, enlisting every staff member from the South-South, where he comes from.

However, responding to the claims, Abdulrazaq, who hails from Edo state, denied the allegations, describing them as baseless.

He clarified that the NAHCON‘s workforce, which totals 420 staff members, includes fewer than 10 staff from the South-south, representing less than one per cent of the total personnel, saying he remains the most transparent in the selection process.

„The entire workforce of the National Hajj Commission is 420, and the South-South has less than 10 in the country. There is a need for federal character balancing.

„The percentage of staff from the south in the commission is not up to one per cent of the total workforce. The commissioner PPMF remains the most transparent“, he said.