Before I continue from where I stopped last week on the AHUON Hajj Seminar, let me comment on the Circular released by NAHCON on November 19, 2023 (and signed by my brother Mal Ahmad Muhammad Shira on behalf of the Ag. Chairman/CEO) to tour operator companies that applied for Hajj 2024 licenses. The Circular contained ‘the list of Qualified and Not-qualified Companies for 2024 Hajj license’. The companies disqualified ‘may wish to appeal by addressing a letter to the Ag. Chairman/CEO National Hajj Commission of Nigeria….’ The Circular stated that such appeal letters are ‘expected to reach the Commission’ ‘not later than 8:00 am of Tuesday, 21st November 2023.’
In the NAHCON WhatsApp Platform where the above Circular was shared, two lists were posted: one of ‘Companies Recommended for 2024 Hajj License’ numbering 58 and another of 97 ‘Companies Disqualified for 2024 Hajj’. The qualified companies on the first list had the word RECOMMENDED following the name of each company. The second list of Disqualified companies had varying kinds of ‘REMARKS’ against the names of the affected entities. Remarks like 25M NOT PAID, NO AUDITED ACCOUNT, INVALID IATA, INDEBTEDNESS and FAKE TCC. Others had UNRESOLVE CASE, CURRENTLY SUSPENDED DUE TO VISA RACKETEERING, MUTAKALLIFEEN OR INSOLVENT DUE TO LACK OF WORKING CAPITAL as the REMARKS against their names.
My comment intends to speak the minds of some private Hajj operators whom I conversed with on the content of this Circular. In this conversation, I aim not to denigrate anyone but to say the problems as I understood them and how best they could be addressed. I do not purpose to interfere in the excellent work that the Appeal Committee constituted by NAHCON is doing. I am not trying to influence its decision; it is not fitting for me to do that. Moreover, by the time you read this piece, the Appeal Committee must have submitted its report. So, whatever I write here is in great reverence and respect to the stakeholders in the industry and the leadership of NAHCON. It is not to placate or vex anyone. I desire naught save reform so far as I am able. My welfare is only in Allah. In Him I trust, and unto Him I turn (repentant). (Hud 17:88)
Tour operators recognize and revere the efforts of NAHCON towards sanitizing the Hajj industry. Our hands of friendship and cooperation are stretched out to the leadership and the staff of the Commission in ways that will ensure better services to the guests of Allah, the pilgrims. Through our interactions with one another over the years, we have become more than friends; we are family!
Hajj tour operators left the venue of our last meeting on November 2, 2023, with the Chairman, Mal Jalal Ahmad Arabi, with their worries and concerns taken care of because of how he handled proceedings that day. Every participant was respected and had the right to an equal chance to air their views. Some of us disagreed on how things are done at the Commission, and they were not frowned upon or discouraged. The leadership of AHUON exceeded the allowed limits in their discussions with Saudi service providers; the NAHCON Chairman, Mal Jalal, took exception to that and mildly drew the line that should not be encroached upon in future engagements. We appreciated this immense display of statesmanship and leadership.
In consideration of the above, whoever is sending any document from NAHCON should keep at the back of their minds the image of the Chairman, a trained lawyer and a seasoned technocrat. One who, when he speaks, I must add, does so in flawless English.
This ‘Qualified and Not-qualified’ situation heralds the commencement of Hajj preparations every year, starting with an advertorial in the dailies calling on pilgrims served by service providers, tour operators, state Mulim pilgrims’ welfare boards/agencies/commissions to come forward if they have complaints against any individual or institutions. Any serious player in the industry will have no problems with such an advertorial since it is in line with NAHCON’s ‘statutory functions’, namely: “to regulate, supervise and perform oversight functions over organizations, associations or similar bodies engaged in organizing and coordinating the movement of pilgrims to perform Hajj and Umrah;” I will plead through this medium any pilgrim served by my company to forward any complaints they have against us if they feel shortchanged or cheated in any way; if we failed to do anything we promised them as contained in the Hajj packages they paid for. Whoever has not got value for their money during the Hajj, we are ready to make a full refund!
When looked at closely, this yearly ritual of calling for complaints from pilgrims targets only the private Hajj operators and their mercantiles. This year’s advertorial was published on Tuesday, September 5, 2023 (in some newspapers, including LEADERSHIP, if I remember correctly). After the usual preamble on the Commission’s roles in pilgrimages, the advertorial called on pilgrims to forward their complaints as that ‘will..guide the decision-making’ of the Commission ‘over renewal or otherwise of the licenses of the relevant Service Provider; Tour Operators, State Muslim Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards/Agencies/Commissions…’
All the above would make sense if not for the fact that NAHCON published, on the same date as this publication (Tuesday, September 5, 2023), ‘APPROVED 2024 HAJJ SEAT ALLOCATION TO STATE MUSLIM PILGRIMS’ WELFARE BOARDS/As/Cs’. Seventy Thousand (70,000) Hajj seat allocations were made, with my state, Kaduna, having the highest number of seats (6,004). The tour operators have 20,000 out of the 96,000 or so slots from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. So, the concern of the advertorial calling for complaints from pilgrims was mainly for a section of the Hajj stakeholders, the trouble and tour companies, as some derogatorily describe us. Pilgrims served by states, even though they are more in number, did not have to forward any complaints as that would be useless since Hajj seat allocations were done and dusted; otherwise, how could one explain the publication of the two documents on the same day? Maybe the pilgrims that did Hajj through the states were served so well that they have nothing to complain about, or have they?
Once this yearly ritual is on, the world stops regarding anything with the tour operator in the Commission. No file is treated even if the company has legitimate claims or unpaid refunds; everything has to wait in case a pilgrim surfaces with complaints against the tour operator. One wonders what the Causion Deposit is meant for. Every infraction is sought after, even if a trifle and distant one from Hajj operations, so that it could be a portent for delisting and disqualification. What Kind of a book is this that leaveth not a small thing nor a great thing but hath counted it! (Al-Kahf 18:49)
We concede that time is at a premium for Hajj 2024, but we expect a little more courtesy regarding timing between correspondence and when we must do what. This Circular on ‘Qualified and Not-qualified’ companies was sent on the evening of Sunday, November 19, 2023, and we were expected to act on it by Tuesday, November 21, 2023, the same day the Appeal Committee started its sitting. The Circular was kind enough to provide an online option for submitting certain documents, but that will not assist companies that needed to get required documents from other offices or establishments. There were occasions in past when tour operators had barely 24 hours to act with immediate effect on NAHCON instructions.
For Allah’s sake, what is the meaning of the remarks against the names of disqualified companies: INSOLVENT DUE TO LACK OF WORKING CAPITAL? Before this phrase was used, was the legal unit of NAHCON consulted? What are the implications of this phrase to the image of the affected companies and the people behind them? Who has the authority to declare an individual or a going concern insolvent? What will happen if the affected companies decide to seek legal intervention? Could NAHCON have assisted the insolvent companies to be solvent through any available window rather than noising their situation aboard?
Many tour operators do not see themselves as bonafide members of the Hajj Household; a tour operator is like an unwanted child. The edges of NAHCON’s sward are sharpened only when dealing with the tour operator; only then will all rules apply in letter and spirit as if serving pilgrims through private companies is a sin.
Our hopes and confidence are in Allah and then the Chairman of NAHCON, Mal Jalal Ahmad Arabi OON, fwc. We have implicit trust in his willingness and ability to bring redress and remove any rancour lurking in the stakeholders’ hearts. Only one National Hajj Commission of Nigeria oversees all service providers’ activities, be they tour operators or state Muslim pilgrims’ boards/agencies/commissions. All of them are serving one person: the Nigerian pilgrim.
The stick cannot be the only medium to better Hajj services to pilgrims. The carrot is very potent in engendering healthy competition among service providers, as done during the days of Mal Abdullahi Mukhtar. In its wisdom, the last NAHCON Board chose to remove the unwanted child, the tour operator, from the scheme. Therefore, awards were given to the best service providers among the state Muslim pilgrims’ welfare boards only as if to further lay credence to what I have rehearsed so far.
I will resume discussing the AHUON HAJJ SEMINAR next week, inshaa Allah.
