The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested and detained the Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Jalal Arabi, and the commission’s secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, over alleged mismanagement of the N90 billion 2024 Hajj subsidy.
According to a report by The PUNCH, quoting an official document, the anti-graft agency said a total of SR314,098 was recovered from the NAHCON chairman and other ranking officials.
The EFCC said its investigation further revealed that from the N90 billion Hajj subsidy, Arabi fraudulently overpaid himself and others the necessary operational cost.
The document also revealed that the approved 2024 Hajj operational cost for the Chairman/CEO, Commissioners, Secretary and Directors/Chief of Staff in the 2024 budget are stipulated as $4,250, $12,750, $3,825 and $15,300, respectively.
“The chairman fraudulently overpaid himself, the commissioners, secretary and directors for the 2024 hajj operational cost.
“The chairman was entitled to SR15,929 but he got SR50,000; three commissioners who were meant to get SR 15,929 each received SR 40,000 each. The secretary got SR 30,000 instead of SR14,336. Directors/Chief of Staff received SR 30,000 instead of the SR2,550 they were entitled to. The total of SR314,098 were recovered from all of them,” the document showed.
The document partly read, “The sum of N90bn was released by the Federal Government of Nigeria to the National Hajj Commission to subsidise the 2024 Hajj Operations by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The total sum of N1, 764,705,937.62 was deducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria as bank charges.
“The sum of N88, 235,294,063.72 was subsequently converted into United States dollars at the rate of N1,416.13, which amounted to USD 62,307,164.48 and thereafter transferred into NAHCON British SAAB Account in Saudi Arabia.
“The sum of USD 62,307,164.48 was converted to Saudi Riyal at the rate of N3,748, which amounted to the sum of SR 233,527,252.47.
“That the opening balance of the IBAN-E track for 2024 Hajj activities was SR 19,813,810.89 and has an inflow of SR 485,000,000.00 from NAHCON with a closing balance of SR 78,985,266.03.
“That the closing balance is inclusive of the SR20,637,908.23 refunded from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah Saudi Arabia.
“That the total sum of SR 22, 815,367.74 was withdrawn cash from the British SAAB account by one Abubakar Muhammed Lamin in Saudi Arabia during the 2024 Hajj operation.”
Similarly, last Wednesday, some top officials of the NAHCON were arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged mismanagement or diversion of the N90 billion subsidy.
On July 29, the anti-graft agency grilled Arabi for hours and released him on bail.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Arabi was at the office of the anti-graft agency to answer questions on how the commission spent the N90 billion subsidy for the exercise.
A day to his first invitation, Mr Arabi had at a news briefing on Monday, gave the breakdown of how the commission spent the N90 billion subsidy.
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.
Niger State governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, had called for the scrapping of NAHCON due to its conduct of the 2024 hajj, vowing that he would lead its abolition.
