The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Wednesday pleaded with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reconsider its policy of paying the Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) of Nigerian pilgrims for this year’s Hajj exercise in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.
The apex bank had, barely a few days before the commencement of the airlift of pilgrims for the 2024 Hajj, directed commercial banks to pay the pilgrims $200, while their remaining $300 was to be loaded on ATM cards.
The policy entails that each pilgrim would be issued an ATM card for withdrawal and transactions during the period of pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, making it compulsory for all pilgrims to open a BTA-linked bank account with a view to ensuring a more secure and efficient financial process.
Though the policy was eventually jettisoned last year, the CBN had insisted that it would go ahead to implement it for the 2025 Hajj exercise.
Speaking on this in an interview with journalists at the Hajj House headquarters of NAHCON in Abuja yesterday, the Commission’s Commissioner of Operations, Inspectorate and Licensing, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, confirmed that based on certain reasons, the Hajj body would interface with the CBN with a view to making the apex bank see reason why it ought to waive the issuance of BTA via ATM to the pilgrims.
Admitting that the issue is a policy of the country’s apex bank, Elegushi said NAHCON’s intervention through appeal to the CBN was due to the fact that many intending pilgrims were coming from rural areas and were not familiar with electronic financial transactions.
Apart from these, the commissioner said there were few bank outlets and ATM machines in Makkah, where the intending pilgrims would spend most of their stay in Saudi Arabia during the pilgrimage period.
According to him, “In my view, that is a policy that has been in place, but last year, they waived it for us after considerable discussion.
“At NAHCON, we have our own policy as well, but we will continue to advocate on two or three points: who are the individuals going to Hajj, and what is their literacy level?
“Most of the pilgrims are from rural areas where they cannot even read or write and may never have encountered an ATM machine in their lives. Furthermore, how many ATM machines are there in Makkah, or how many bank outlets?
“These are the factors we need to present to the CBN to persuade them to see the rationale for waiving this policy.”
Elegushi disclosed that Nigeria would not meet the allotted 95,000 slots earmarked for it for this year’s Hajj, adding that NAHCON was only able to secure accommodation in Masha’ir (holy sites of Arafat, Muna and Muzdalifah) for 52,000 intending Nigerian pilgrims from different states.
He added that 12,000 accommodation units for private tour operators’ pilgrims were also secured by the commission.
“We have secured 52,000 seats for the state pilgrims and I believe the tour operators have also booked about 12,000 seats for their pilgrims.
“It is a proactive measure to reserve space in Masha’ir, which is why payments are still being processed, and we still have a number of days to finalise everything,” Elegushi informed.
He assured that Nigeria is following the laid-down schedule for this year’s Hajj diligently and informed that NAHCON had concluded arrangements with the approved airlines.
The commissioner expressed optimism that with what was on the ground in terms of planning and arrangements, NAHCON was poised to surpass the 2024 Hajj operations.
According to him, “We are adhering to the schedules and doing our utmost. We have completed the first leg, that is, securing space for our pilgrims in Masha’ir and we are diligently following up with other programmes associated with Saudi Arabia.
“We receive updates almost daily from state boards and have concluded arrangements with the airlines, which have been approved. Hence, all hands are on deck, and I am confident that this year’s Hajj operations will surpass those of 2024.”
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