Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has called for the review of activities of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
The governor made the call in an interview in Saudi Arabia to assess this year’s Hajj operations, according to a statement on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary Bologi Ibrahim.
He expressed concern over the way NAHCON has turned itself to an operator of Hajj activities instead of being a regulatory body.
The governor, who recounted the hitches pilgrims encountered, described the 2024 Hajj exercise as a failure.
He suggested that Hajj operation should be private sector driven for effective and efficient service delivery and that he will lead a committee of state governors to meet relevant authorities for a review of the activities of NAHCON for smooth Hajj operations.
“Let the private sector drive Hajj operations, NAHCON should be a regulator at the centre. If NAHCON must exist, then they should strictly be a regulator.
“I am leading a committee of governors to the NGF, from there we go to the NEC, I will propose this motion, and we will send a bill to the National Assembly where this issue of NAHCON would be reviewed.
“NAHCON is not helping matters. Our Federal Government is too big to be worried about Hajj operations, these are supposed to be Local Government issues and not even State issues. State Government should be able to organize pilgrimage and get Agents from the private sector who will do these things the best way as other countries are doing it,” he further stated.
On the issue of N90billion subsidy paid by the Federal Government for the Hajj operation, with some states including Niger paying about villions of naira, the governor said there is need for the National Assembly to probe the fund explaining that it is ridiculous that pilgrims were given only $400 to take care of themselves for about 40 days despite the payment of N8million by each pilgrim.
He said the N90billion would have made more impact if shared to states, pointing out that the money is enough to run Universal Basic Education budget for four years.
The governor also opined that Hajj operation should not last beyond two weeks
He disclosed that the state recorded six deaths of pilgrims, two due to medical challenges while four were as a result of the heatwave.
