President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday appointed Ambassador Ismail Abba Yusuf as the new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
NAHCON is the leading regulatory authority for Hajj and Umrah in West Africa’s largest country.
His appointment followed the removal of Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, whose tenure was marred by corruption scandals running into billions of naira, leading to his resignation on Tuesday, February 10, 2026.
Mr Pakistan was interrogated on October 7, 2025, by the EFCC over alleged fraud running into billions of naira. Some of the allegations against him include the alleged squandering of N15 billion on Masha’ir extra bed space, N1.6 billion on NAHCON staff spouses, and N8 billion on Makkah contingency bed spaces during the 2025 Hajj.
Other allegations include the extra-budgetary spending of over 300 per cent of his approved budget; N25 billion expended on officials, staff, and board members; N1.4 billion as allowances of committees; and the mismanagement of Madinah bed spaces from 11,000 to 18,000 for 41,000 pilgrims.
Chief among the reported challenges, this newspaper learned, include the mismanagement of the Saudi NUSUK digital platform, payment for 14,000 unregistered pilgrims for Masha’ir services leading to the loss of N23 billion, absence of clinics in Madinah and delay in Makkah, failure to pay Saudi accommodation providers and caterers in time, and mismanagement of Madinah bed spaces.
Ambassador Yusuf, described by his colleagues in the Foreign Service and acquaintances as an upright, calm, and disciplined bureaucrat, is coming at a time when Nigeria’s rating in the Hajj Commonwealth has plummeted to the bottomless pit over poor leadership and corruption scandals.
During the first, second, and third boards of the Hajj commission under Muhammad Musa Bello and Barr Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, Nigeria received the best ratings and was treated with a royal protocol in Saudi Arabia due to the multi-faceted reforms introduced and implemented by the then NAHCON leadership, and the respect and confidence the Saudis had in them.
With the coming of Barr Zikirullah Kunle Hasan, those achievements recorded by his predecessors began to fade into obscurity, insiders said, but only to get worse under Mr Pakistan, an Arabic language teacher with zero experience in administration and logistics.
The steep decline in Nigeria’s rating can be seen from the reduction of the country’s 2026 Hajj quota to 40,000 from the original 95,000, which automatically removed Nigeria from its longstanding position as the fifth-largest Hajj country globally for the first time.
From the elaborate resume and work experiences, Ambassador Yusuf is poised to take the Hajj commission – he actively participated in midwifing it 20 years ago – out of the woods, many stakeholders who spoke to this newspaper said.
Born on 7 July 1962 at Mubi, Adamawa State, Ambassador Yusuf is a retired career diplomat and the immediate past Ambassador of Nigeria to the Republic of Turkiye.
A statement by NAHCON spokesperson, Fatima Sanda Usara, said the new Hajj chief is a graduate of Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, in 1985 with an honours degree in Political Science.
He completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps [NYSC] program at the Ijebu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in 1986, and immediately gained employment in the Foreign Service in December 1986.
The diplomat attended several advanced professional courses and rose to the rank of Director in 2013. He was subsequently appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Turkiye in 2021.
Ambassador Yusuf played a pivotal role in accelerating the strategic relationship with Turkiye, focusing heavily on defence, security, Trade and investment, and industrial collaboration.
His professional standing is underpinned by extensive experience spanning 35 years of documented records of service, she said.
In the course of his career trajectory, the new NAHCON boss served in various capacities, including at Nigerian Diplomatic Missions in Argentina, Italy, and China.
At headquarters, he handled various roles across directorates, including Analysis, Operations, Training, Administration, and pilgrims’ affairs, where he anchored the secretariat of the Presidential Committees on Hajj (PCH) from 2002 to 2007.
The PCH had a mandate to initiate, design and implement effective policies for the smooth conduct of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia by Nigerian Muslims. The committee’s work ultimately laid the grounds and framework for the establishment and smooth takeoff of NAHCON in 2006, where Yusuf also worked as the secretary.
Earlier in 2005, Ambassador Yusuf served as secretary of a high-level Federal Government delegation to study Hajj arrangements in Malaysia and Indonesia. This was based on the extraordinary efficiency demonstrated by both countries in Hajj matters over the years.
The delegation’s findings, she said, provided impetus to the early works of NAHCON, especially in the establishment of the Hajj Savings Scheme.
The diplomat also served as the Secretary of two successive Federal Government Delegations (Amirul Hajj) in 2012 and 2013.
From 2011- 2013, following deployment to the Presidential Villa, the top foreign service officer also worked as Special Assistant on Presidential Matters – office of the Chief of Staff to the President. His schedule of duty included summary/analysis of memos and assisting the chief of staff in the management of the President’s programs.
Ambassador Yusuf is proficient in languages Hausa, Yoruba, Igala, English and Spanish.
