The Governor of Niger State, Umaru Bago has expressed deep displeasure over the ways and manner the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria organized the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage at Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with the press at the Holy land on the 2024 Hajj operations, the governor, who participated in the annual spiritual exercise alongside other pilgrims across the globe, described the operations and conducts of NAHCON as a total failure, calling for the scrapping of the commission for enhanced management.
Giving his general assessment of the Hajj exercise in a video clip sighted by The Point, Bago disclosed that it was haphazardly managed to the extent that governors and the Nigerian Speaker who participated in the pilgrimage had no place to sleep, alleging that NAHCON served Nigerian pilgrims alien cuisines that made them ill.
He said many pilgrims wouldn’t have died if the commission had thoroughly screened them and checked if they had underlying ailments that needed to be given adequate medical attention.
Bago stated, “We thank Allah for the opportunity to have been part of this Hajj. We want to also thank the President of our country for also giving us opportunity and other Nigerians to also perform this ritual and obligation.
“My assessment of the pilgrimage in general, for these Saudis, they have done their best but for us as a country, we have failed. We have failed and continue to fail and fail and fail.
NAHCON is supposed to be a regulator and not an operator. But NAHCON has decided to continue to play the part of operations and therefore they failed pilgrims. Can you imagine that the feeding of pilgrims in Medina, the accommodation in Medina, the tents in Mina and Arafat, the transportation, both land and air fare, all is handled by NAHCON?
“Even the medical workers are accelerated from the state and the funds are paid by NAHCON. So, all these things hinder operations. There is no country that does that in the whole world and very few countries have bodies like NAHCON. So, our general overview is for NAHCON to continue to be a regulator, not an operator.”
Reacting to the hundreds of deaths recorded during this year’s Hajj, the governor said, “In my state, we lost two in Medina due to their state of health, and this is one of the reasons I am talking about NAHCON because if medical part of the programme is handled by states, you will do your screening, you will see people who are diabetic, people with underlying illnesses and you will be able to understand how you can transport them. But, nobody does that because NAHCON is in charge. So, we lost two due to medical issues and we lost another four due to the heat wave, those are people from my state. But in Nigeria, I am sure it can’t be less than 100 in general. So, this is not a good number and this should stop.
“Let state governments be able to do the right thing, screen their pilgrims, check their statutes, health wise and even for those that are going to be coming for medicals, let us understand that they are coming for medicals, let us understand the kind of medication they are taking but nobody does that because NAHCON is handling it.”
The governor faulted the N90 billion Hajj subsidies by the Federal Government and asked the National Assembly to probe how the funds were expended.
Faulting rationale behind subsidizing the spiritual exercise, Bago opined that, “It is unfortunate, there is need for the National Assembly to probe these funds. As a state governor, I want to lead the committee of governors to the NGF to scrap NAHCON. 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, not even state issues. So, state governments should be able to organize pilgrimages, and get agents from the private sector that will do this the best way like other countries are doing. The government has no business in doing this business.
“Again, can you imagine the governors of Nigeria and the Speaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria paying money to NAHCON and coming to Minna and there is no place for them to sleep and embarrassed and no place for governors to sleep and be embarrassed? People will say it is because governors have been touched, yes, but it is good that the governors have been touched and it is good that the Speaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been affected, it is time for us now in the learning curve to change the narratives. Let state governments handle Hajj operations.
“The N90 billion the Federal Government gave, imagine sharing it to 36 states and see what it is. That N90 billion is enough to run the UBEC budget for four years. So, we cannot be carrying our resources to people.
People paid N8 million for these operations directly before the subsidy and they got only $400. This is ridiculous. What is $400? Somebody paid N8 million to you NAHCON and you come and give them stipends of $400 to run themselves for one month?
“There is no reason why Hajj operations should last beyond two weeks. You bring pilgrims for 40 days, you leave them here, some 45 days, it is ridiculous because of racketeering in airlifting, in handling of cargoes and other things. Let the private sector drive Hajj operations, the government should be a regulator.
NAHCON should be a regulator at the centre. If NAHCON must exist, then, they should strictly be a regulator. But like I told you, I am leading a committee of governors to the NGF, from there we will go to the NEC, I will propose this motion; we will send a bill to the National Assembly where this issue of NAHCON should be reviewed.
“The only way forward is to let there be separation of powers and responsibilities. NAHCON by the laws that brought them to existence are supposed to be regulators to make sure that things are done rightly. But NAHCON has no business in chattering flights, it is not their business to feed the pilgrims because of the food they are giving people.
“For example, I am from Niger State, if you allow me to feed my pilgrims, I will be able to transship food that people are locally used to Saudi Arabia to feed my own pilgrims. I will be able to get a kitchen that will feed my pilgrims from what they are used to. Not to come and give them slices of bread or one piece of boiled egg and people are starving. We have different cultures. You cannot force the Arabian cuisine on our people and that is why they are falling sick, some people want to drink kunu, some people want to eat massa and so on and so forth but NAHCON wouldn’t do that because they contracted it to the Arabians and I don’t know the reasons.
“So, these things are frustrating. There is no synergy between the state government, the local government together and the NAHCON. There is a need for us to sit down on a round table and define roles and responsibilities. But in a nutshell, I will tell you that the 2024 Hajj operation is a failure,” he maintained.
