National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Monday gave a breakdown of how it spent the N90 billion Federal Government’s subsidy for the 2024 Hajj pilgrims.
Executive Chairman/CEO of NAHCON, Malam Jalal Arabi, gave the breakdown at a news briefing in Abuja.
A day after the briefing, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) summoned Mr Arabi over the N90 billion subsidy funds, among other 2024 hajj expenditures.
It was learnt that Arabi would respond to many petitions against him on alleged maltreatment of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia during the 2024 operation.
During the Monday press conference, Arabi said that each pilgrim was supported with N1,637,369.87 from the N90 billion except for pilgrims under the Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS) who enjoyed more.
He said, ”How to spread this N90 billion equitably, to such a degree that registered pilgrims would not have to pay additionally to the N4.9m, was tough.
”At first, the N90 billion would only cater conveniently for about 18,000 intending pilgrims out of the about 50,000 duly registered persons as of March 22, 2024.
”Subsequently, appreciation of the Naira to N1,474.00 in May 2024 brought respite to our calculations as it meant a reduction from what the registered pilgrims would have to top up.”
Arabi explained that NAHCON devised a distribution strategy which played a crucial role in ensuring that all the stakeholders associated with the 2024 Hajj benefited from the financial stability through the Federal Government’s support.
He said. ” Each pilgrim was supported with N1,637,369.87 from the N90 billion except for pilgrims under the Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS) who enjoyed more.
” Hence, all registered intending pilgrims, except those on HSS, were required to pay a balance of N1,918,094.87 since the N90 billion was not sufficient to make up for the balance.
” However, new registrants were asked to pay N8, 454,464.74 being exempted from the Federal Government’s intervention.”
Arabi also said that it was on record that eligible officials and stakeholders from all the tiers of government enjoyed the subsidy from the money.
On the pilgrims’ Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), he said that the commission, in agreement with the state pilgrims’ representatives, approved a BTA of $500 per pilgrim.
This, according to him, was part of measures put in place to reduce the cost of Hajj fare.
Arabi said,” As of April 24, 2024, when NAHCON remitted the pilgrims’ BTA into their respective States Pilgrims Welfare Boards accounts, the Dollar exchange rate was N1,252 to a dollar.
‘Based on this rate, N626,000 was paid for the value of 500 dollars.
” However, the banks later issued BTA to pilgrims at a rate higher than N626 depending on the cost of foreign exchange at the time the respective states requested for the BTAs.
” This caused a shortfall to the original value.”
He said the commission expected the banks to honour the exchange rate obtainable on April 24, 2014, the day the BTA was deposited and to pay the pilgrims based on that rate.
Arabi assured that NAHCON would engage the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to avoid future occurrences.
He added that NAHCON would continue to assess and improve its processes to serve the pilgrims better and uphold the sanctity and significance of Hajj.
Arabi said, ” Be rest assured that NAHCON remains committed to transparency and accountability in all aspects of our operations.
” We will continuously seek to improve our processes to ensure equitable access to facilities and services for all the pilgrims, thereby upholding the sanctity and inclusivity of the Hajj experience.”
