#Hajj Commission To Institutionalise All Its Sustainability Reforms – CEO

#Hajj Commission To Institutionalise All Its Sustainability Reforms – CEO—–The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan, has assured that all the proactive Hajj reforms in the commission would be institutionalised before the expiration of his tenure.

Hassan stated this while delivering a lecture entitled: “‘Hajj operations in Nigeria and the Challenges for the Muslim Ummah,” on Wednesday, in Abuja.

The NAHCON boss, who traced the history of Hajj administrations in Nigeria from the 50s, said lack of a legal framework and the political will of successive Chief executives, were responsible for policy somersault over the years.

He said one of the major reforms of the commission was the launch of the Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS) on Oct. 4, 2020 with JAIZ bank, in line with global practice and to ease the performance of hajj for Nigerians.

Hassan noted that the scheme, which had come to stay, was being condemned in some circles, against the backdrop of alleged corruption and lack of transparency in its operations.

“It would interest Nigerians to know that each subscriber to the scheme receives a monthly update on his or her deposits detailing whatever profit had accrued to it.

” Pilgrims on the HSS monitor their accounts directly from their phones if they wished.

“Besides, NAHCON had constantly given progress reports to State Welfare Boards on the performance of the scheme, the most recent being in March 2022 when the commission released details of profit distribution to each of the state boards.

” Dividends were shared to the states with the details forwarded to them,” he said.

Hassan said the concerns of major stakeholders was the fact that nobody had benefited from the scheme to perform the hajj due to COVID-19 restrictions, which had prevented the performance of hajj rites for two consecutive years.

He said that the savings scheme and other reforms carried out by the commission were being gazetted into law so that anyone coming after him would only consolidate on it rather than eradicating the policies.

He assured that all intending pilgrims who had contributed not to panic as their savings were well secured and the first batch would use it to perform the 2022 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Hassan, however, said the commission was yet to come up with the actual amount to be paid or balance up for 2022 hajj operations due to the fluctuations of the Naira against the US Dollars in the foreign exchange market.

The Hajj fare which, he hinted, may be a little bit higher than the amount charged in 2019, was also due to some new policies by the Saudi Arabian Hajj authorities.

He said underage children as well as adults over 65 years of age would not be allowed to perform the hajj .

On selection of various Hajj welfare committees such as Ulama, Media and Medical, he assured Nigerians that the commission would be fair and just to all concerned and ensure a transparent process.

Hassan appealed to Nigerians with useful ideas to come forward with it and assist the commission to improve on its various reforms.

About 43,000 Nigeria pilgrims are expected to perform the 2022 Hajj exercise out of the over one million pilgrims approved by the Saudi Arabian authorities for the exercise