The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has blamed Saudi housing agents as Nigeria faces accommodation challenges in Makkah, Saudi Arabia ahead of 2025 Hajj —due to the non-entering of housing details for pilgrims accommodations under state quota in the Saudi eletronic Nusuk platform
In a statement on Tuesday, NAHCON Commissioner of Operations, Prince Anofi Elegushi, said the mess was created by the Saudi accommodation providers’ inability to make advance payments to landlords.
He said neither the commission nor the states are responsible for the cancellation of the housing bookings by Nigerian pilgrims.
Mr Elegushi said the accommodation agents in Saudi Arabia ought to have made an advance payment to the landlords of their property to tie it down, knowing fully well that the state will make the payment later via Nusuk.
He said the commission is responsible for the advertisement, shortlisting and screening of the housing service providers. “Once that is done, NAHCON will now send the list to states for them to choose their preferred providers. States are solely responsible for choosing their accommodation while NAHCON inspects to ensure it meets basic standards set by NAHCON.
“When we came in January, the states meet their choosing accommodation providers and select the houses for their pilgrims. Because the agents failed to make initial payment to the landlord of these houses, other countries are now coming to the traditional areas of Nigerian pilgrims with a higher offer to tempt the landlords. So, the problem is not about NAHCON or states,” he said.
“So, it is wrong to blame NAHCON for the little challenges which we are working round the clock to solve,” the NAHCON statement said.
Instead of exonerating NAHCON, Mr Elegushi’s explanation has further made the commission neck deep in the accommodation crisis. Mir Elegushi’d explanation was faulted by many Hajj stakeholders — including NAHCON staff have faulted his excuses, describing it at best lame and ambivalent
One of the staff rhetorically asked: “I am thrilled, when did NAHCON resort back to using agents not the landlords?”
Alhaji Muhammad Babangida Umar, a legal practitioner and a veteran Hajj stakeholder, raised some posers for the NAHCON commissioner.
Barrister Umar said Mr Elegushi’s explanation is “the most ambivalent explanation I have heard in recent times on a serious matter such as this.
“I know that historically NAHCON doesn’t deal with ‘loose Agents’ who do not hold any concrete Power of Attorney or Authority from the original landlord . Now, is the commissioner saying that NAHCON simply engaged “loose” Agents who did not provide any concrete proof of authority over the houses they presented?
“Or is the Commissioner saying that NAHCON, inspite of its prequalification conditions , opted to deal with unserious agents instead of dealing with the Landlords . Can the Commissioner disclose the conditions precedent to reserving the accommodations which were made available to the States?
“Were those conditions met or not? And if the Commissioner’s lame explanation is to be taken seriously, were there no contract terms tying the Landlords/Agents to any timelines or advance payment and some measure of notice prior to cancellation or before engaging other countries?
“What was the whole essence of the pre qualification processes in Saudi with all the cost involved if a prequalified Landlord/Agent can wake up anytime and offer their houses to the highest bidder?”
This newspaper gathered that officials of NAHCON and those of State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards (SMPWB) are now scrambling to secure fresh accommodations from low-budget houses having lost the premium ones they selected, inspected and booked but lost them to other countries due to inefficiency of NAHCON leadership.
Securing accommodations in Makkah is a prerequisite for obtaining Hajj visa for pilgrims in the E-Tract NUSUK platform.
Some states from the Northwest, Northeast, North-central and some Southern states were the worst hit by the cancellations, it was learned.
“These states have been displaced from the premium houses/hotels in good locations they have been occupying for years,” a state official lamented.
Nigerian prospective pilgrims could have missed this year’s Hajj if not for the last-minute magnanimity of the Saudi Arabian authorities to extend the accommodation deadline by 10 days, a source in the Nigerian Embassy in the Arab kingdom said.
“Luckily, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had extended the accommodation deadline from March 25 to April 4,” a Hajj official in Saudi Arabia said.
The official said Nigerian authorities have to secure fresh accommodations and upload them on the E-Tract before the new deadline expires. Inability of the states to upload the accommodations details on the electronic platform means their pilgrims won’t get visa and therefore won’t perform the 2025 Hajj, the official warned.
All Hajj officials who spoke to our reporters in the last few days had pointed accusing fingers at NAHCON for creating the accommodation mess.
States officials – including some governors — had traveled to Saudi Arabia and made reservations from the NAHCON- accredited hotel providers. NAHCON officials subsequently inspected and approved the reservations by giving offer letters of engagement on behalf of the states.
However, NAHCON has failed to back up the bookings with the usual advance payments to firmly the reservations, contrary to Elegushi’s explanation. This led to the states losing most of their houses to other countries who are handy and ready for action—without the states’ knowledge, a state official told this newspaper.
It was also found out that the states were unaware that they have lost their houses until towards the March 25 deadline — when the NAHCON ICT team realized that most of the booked houses by the states in preparation for visa processes were not available, another NAHCON staff said.
As a fallout of the NAHCON-induced mess, states are now scrambling to secure any available accommodation — notwithstanding its distance to the Holy Mosque, standard, quality of service or price.
“States pilgrims boards are now scavenging houses from NAHCON non-accredited service providers just to meet up with the new deadline. Nobody is talking about quality or standard anymore. The key word now is availability,” a NAHCON official told one of our reporters.
It was gathered that NAHCON has now introduced a new list of housing providers — who were not accredited and shortlisted because they couldn’t meet up with the initial pre-qualification criteria advertised by the commission. And it’s being alleged that these new housing providers are brokers and commission-takers who are being coordinated by a Makkah-based Nigerian woman allegedly close to the NAHCON chairman.
Insiders said this woman is also the one fronting for the Madinah feeding for the cabals feeding fat off Nigerian pilgrims.
Earlier, the commission has set a SR3,000 uniform benchmark per pilgrim bed space. A development, insiders said, was morally wrong — because accommodations are priced by their distance to the Holy mosque, standard, and quality of services.
With this rush now, accommodations that are far below SR3,000 are now being signed up for Nigerian pilgrims by states and NAHCON officials — for fear of missing the Hajj. “I don’t have any option now. I just need houses for my pilgrims. Without securing a hotel for them, my pilgrims won’t come to 2025 Hajj. That is our dilemma now. Nobody is talking about quality. Our concern is availability,” a state pilgrims boss from the Southwest told one of our reporters.
“Accommodation agents are now having a field day as they obviously cash on the desperation of Nigerian states officials. It has also become a conduit for some few unscrupulous well-connected NAHCON officials to fleece the states,” another staff of NAHCON who sought anonymity told this newspaper.
However, another commission official has predicted a negative scenario, saying pilgrims may protest the type of accommodations they would stay in Makkah during the Hajj. “The Makkah accommodations are central to Hajj because pilgrims spend more than 80 percent of their days there,” the official said.
Top officials said the commission Chairman Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman couldn’t pay the accommodation providers because he allegedly used all the money to pay the two Masha’ir service providers.
Professor Usman has made full payments to Mashariq Aldhahabiah for 35,000 pilgrims, and Ekram Aldyf 25,000 pilgrims for Masha’ir services, it was revealed.
Observers are still perplexed by the NAHCON chairman’s wisdom behind paying for 60,000 pilgrims – even through the commission had earlier announced that Nigeria only booked for 52,000 pilgrims in Masha’ir.
A NAHCON top official was appalled, saying, “it is puzzling that the chairman is making payment for 60,000 pilgrims even though the total number of pilgrims registered so far is about 35,000. This is a harbinger for a big scandal.”
Another source said the commission might have paid the Masha’ir firms 100% to protect vested interests.
Hajj stakeholders have said these and many other alleged embarrassing conducts of Professor Usman’s stewardship is soiling the image of Nigeria in Saudi Arabia. “The Hajj officials in Saudi Arabia are looking down on us. They don’t take us serious anymore,” a veteran Hajj stakeholder complained.
Professor Usman’s leadership style is also reportedly hurting the unity of Muslims in Nigeria — particularly deepening ethnic schism and also dredging the gulp between Southern and the Northern Muslims.
This was revealed by a university scholar, Dr Bamidele Ayouba, who was agonized by the alleged nepotism, incompetence, ethnic bias and reported exclusion of Southern Muslims from the NAHCON schemes of things. He called on Nigerian Muslims to rise against the Hajj commission’s incumbent leadership.
Other stakeholders echoed the university scholar’s calls, urging President Bola Tinubu to save the Hajj industry by sacking Professor Usman’s-led NAHCON board.
The chairman is currently in Saudi Arabia with about 50 staff – they don’t have any schedule like it used to be. Some staff are using the opportunity to manipulate the mess in the accommodation crisis for a fee. “It is a kind of a rat race. Everyone is scavenging for a carcass to feast on,” an official said.
No state is happy with this development, it was learned. But they can’t speak out for fear of a backlash. They are deeply worried because the pilgrims only know them not NAHCON. This is because they have paid their money to NAHCON early enough but only to lose their preferred houses due to the commission negligence.
