The Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON) are under fire for selecting a Saudi Arabian service provider that shortchanged Nigerian pilgrims for the past three consecutive years.
From 2022 to 2024, the tour operators had written petitions and held a series of press conferences castigating the leadership of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for choosing Ithraa Al Khair Company to offer them services at Masha’ir – Muna and Arafat – which turned out to be messy.
In 2024 hajj for instance, the rogue service company subjected hundreds of Nigerian VIPs to unwarranted embarrassment, drawing outrage from tour operators, state governors, ministers, National Assembly members, and traditional rulers, among others.
Earlier in 2023, nearly half of the 95,000 pilgrims from Nigeria were stranded and starved in Muna with no tents, bedding, food, water and sanitation.
The most affected pilgrims in Muna, according to findings by this newspaper, are those from Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Borno, Southeast states and private tour operators. The four states had a combined pilgrims population of more than 21,000 for that year.
The Hajj Commission and AHUON had blamed the Ithraa Al Khair service provider for the embarrassing treatment of Nigerian pilgrims.
In the 2022 Hajj, the same service delivered poor services that included inadequate tents, shortage of food and water, and poor sanitation, among others.
Observers of the Hajj industry are miffed by the tour operators’ selection of the same erring service provider- having petitioned and complained of his shoddy services for three consecutive years.
Findings by this newspaper have shown that while the leadership of the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards/Agencies have rejected the defaulting Ithraa al-Khair Company, their private counterparts in AHUON have opted for it.
Insiders said the Hajj commission chairman had earlier picked a nondescript service provider for the states pilgrims. But the states rejected it and insisted on another service provider that provided excellent services to Nigerian pilgrims between 2015 to 2019.
A top official at the Hajj commission told this newspaper that “if not for the insistence of the leadership of the states pilgrims agencies, NAHCON chairman would have also picked the defaulting Ithraa company, or another briefcase company – to continue the maltreatment of Nigerian pilgrims. Ironically, the states’ stance was supported by the NAHCON commissioners, who rejected the chairman’s choice.”
Another official involved in the Hajj procurement processes said, “the selection of the experienced and veteran service provider that served Nigerian pilgrims from 2015 to 2019, brought succour to our pilgrims.”
He said, “Nigerian pilgrims have secured a $200 reduction each in the hajj fare – courtesy that veteran and competent service provider engaged by the states for 2025.”
The AHUON’s decision has elicited condemnations from some registered tour operators.
The AHUON leadership’s decision has divided its ranks with some members saying they “won’t tolerate another bout of embarrassment and maltreatment by Ithraa Al-Khair for the fourth time.” An AHUON member who requested not to be named for obvious reasons, said “it would be uncharitable for us to subject our pilgrims to this erring service provider again having messed us up for three consecutive years. Many of us have resolved to use the NAHCON/states—approved service provider who has an unblemished records of superlative service delivery.”
A tour operator and President of Association of Hajj and Umrah Tour Operators (HUTUON), Muhammed A. Suleman, said in an interview with journalists that AHUON’s action is suspect and questionable.
He said, “We are yet to understand the motive or rationale behind choosing the same service providers (Ithraa company) you wrote a petition against and openly castigated that you were forced to patronize them last year, and you turned around and signed with the same service provider this year.”
He explained that, “We also understand that NAHCON had chosen Rawaf Mina to provide TENT A services for Nigerian pilgrims due to the failure of services by Ithraa Company, which subjected some VIPs to unwarranted embarrassment last year. How can we patronize that same Ithraa Company when NAHCON has directed otherwise.”
Mr Suleman said his group decided to align itself with NAHCON/states— approved Hajj Service Providers in the interest of Nigerian pilgrims, especially in the areas of services in Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah.
“Our members will sign contracts with NAHCON’s choice of the service provider for the state because we understand that NAHCON decided to change service providers based on complaints from Tour Operators last year.”
This newspaper found out that AHUON might have been coerced into retaining Ithraa company allegedly by one of its executive members in Abuja Zone.
A tour operator who declined being named because of fear of backlash said, “AHUON was dragged back to Ithraa company by one of our executive members in Abuja zone. It was an open secret that the said executive member is in bed with Ithraa company to an extent that he was allegedly bribed with a car during last year’s Hajj.”
A fallout of the AHUON’s decision, according to insiders, is that “the tour operators pilgrims, which is less than 20 percent of the total Nigerian pilgrims, would be served by at least three service providers in Muna and Arafat — further deepening the confusion. We would face a literal scenario of ‘too many cooks spoiling the broth’ at Masha’ir this year,” one of the officials said.
Another top official in NAHCON said, while its is expedient to commend states for standing up for their pilgrims, “it is important to mention that there is still another task ahead. There is another serial defaulting contractor who may be imposed on them as a feeding service provider despite his terrible antecedents. The service provider’s history of breach of contracts and lack of capacity is legendary.”
The official said, in 2024 for instance, this audacious service provider “arbitrarily subcontracted the feeding contract to a third party company with nearly zero capacity and competence. It is worrying that this same briefcase service provider is now harvesting his political connections in Abuja’s corridor of power to grab the feeding contracts in Masha’ir this year.”
The insider said, it is based on this, “that I think the states need to up their ante and resist any briefcase service provider that would shortchange their pilgrims.”
Another staff of the commission blamed the confusion on the dearth of leadership by the commission. “The states have to do what they did because of the clear lack of leadership in NAHCON. Truth is, the state pilgrims boards and agencies have now resolved not to allow NAHCON to take unilateral decisions that affect their pilgrims.”
The leadership decline in NAHCON, according to multiple insiders, began during the post – COVID 19 era. “The post-COVID 19 era brought leadership deficiencies that took the commission 20 years backward. The Hassan Zikirullah and Ahmad Jalal Arabi’s years were characterized by irresponsible leadership, brazen abuse of office, gross staff indiscipline, among others.
The insider said, the states pilgrims board and agencies are not alone on this because they have the backing of their governors. “They are now ready to reject any decision that would not augur well for the pilgrims they own,” he said.
Speaking on the need to abide by the contractual agreements, an Abuja- based cleric, Ustaz Muhammad Yasin, said hajj regulators, tour operators and officials must ensure that only reliable and competent service providers are selected to serve Nigerian pilgrims.
“It is important to remind our Hajj regulators, tour operators and other officials that shortchanging Hajj pilgrims is a serious crime in the sight of Allah (SWT). Pilgrims are esteemed guests of Allah (SWT) and Allah’s wrath would descend on anyone that connives to shortchange them,” the cleric told this newspaper in Abuja.
Reacting to AHUON’s selection of a rogue service provider, Ustaz Yasin said, “This is reprehensible and abuse of the mandate given to the tour operators by prospective pilgrims. They should know that pilgrims deserve the best services their money can afford. Taking them to a company that has a terrible antecedent is unacceptable by all standards.”
Attempts by this newspaper to obtain comments for the story from any of the state pilgrims executive secretaries have not being fruitful.
“Sorry, I am busy with other pilgrims affairs. I won’t comment on this story,” one of the executive members of the association of state pilgrims executive secretaries, told this newspaper by telephone.
When contacted, AHUON President, Imam Lateef Ekundayo, told this newspaper by telephone that they picked Ithraa Al Khair because of the “belief that since NAHCON has moved its over 70,000 pilgrims yo another service provider, it would have less number to handle and therefore serve us better.”
He confirmed that Ithraa Al Khair had shortchanged Nigerian pilgrims in the past three years, saying “during the preparations of 2024 hajj, AHUON wanted to move away from Ithraa Al Khair, but the then NAHCON chairman Ahmad Jalal Arabi forced us to stay, saying AHUON members didn’t agree 100% with the decision. We were surprised because nearly 90% of our members had agreed to ditch Ithraa Al Khair because of the 2023 bad experience with the service provider.”
Mr Ekundayo said, “Ithraa Al Khair told us that the problem with Tent A accommodation was due to NAHCON officials interference who demanded bribes from them. In fact, they said they wanted to add ‘something’ for AHUON officials like they [allegedly] did to some NAHCON officials. But we rejected it.”
“We selected Ithraa AlKhair hoping that they would give us better service at affordable rate this year with the lower number of pilgrims they have now. The devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know,” the AHUON chief said.
However, this newspaper couldn’t officially confirm the veracity of the AHUON chief’s allegation of bribe by Ithraa company to NAHCON officials.
A prominent tour operator has described the AHUON’s excuse of retaining Ithraa Al Khair as untenable. He said “it is unfathomable to hire a contractor who has failed you for three consecutive years. This is unimaginable. Don’t forget that tour operators are using pilgrims money to pay for these services. It is not their personal funds. Then, why toying with the trust of the guests of Allah?”
The tour operator said “it is evident that the AHUON leadership was in cahoots with Mr Jalal Arabi in picking Ithraa Al Khair last year. For AHUON to turn back and attacked Mr Arabi is hypocritical. Instead, they should apologise to him for castigating him over Ithraa Al Khair.”
