NAHCON and diaspora matters

I was privileged to attend the meeting between the Chairman/CEO of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)  Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, and the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa, where both personalities examined thoroughly all issues relating to the Nigerian citizens in Saudi Arabia.

It was a thing to rejoice about the discovery that many of Nigerian-Saudi residents are excelling in their areas of specialisation in the kingdom. Both offices, therefore, have agreed to partner to uplift the image of Nigeria and for the interest of Nigerian patriots in the kingdom.

Every year, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) takes the responsibility a very difficult one, for transporting over 95,000 Nigerian compatriots on Hajj to and from the Holy Land in Makkah.

In the past, especially before the birth of the commission, the story was often unpleasant as some of the pilgrims preferred to stay back without returning home. This trend is referred to as abscondment. And for a long time, they constituted the illegal residents referred to as “takaris” in the kingdom.

Unfortunately, their activities have often overshadowed those of the legitimate dwellers, including the students, professionals, tradesmen and women. Nigerians anywhere in the world form part of the responsibilities of the Presidential aide on Diaspora. The efforts of the current administration of President Buhari to rebuild the image of Nigeria outside are worthy of commendation.

If I can remember, this is the first time a full office is dedicated to deal with all matters specifically relating to Nigerians outside the shores of the country, with the right Nigerian citizen heading the office. Most unfortunately, the constitutional rights of Nigerian citizens in Diaspora were either never or haphazardly delivered, thus subjecting the citizens to diverse levels of untold hardship.

The leaderships of both offices – NAHCON and Diaspora – seemed to have been nursing the same measures. They corroborated themselves when each of the heads took time to analyze the concerns of the Nigerian-Saudi dwellers. The illegal immigrants have caused Nigeria some levels of embarrassment.

Many a time, the Saudi security find it difficult to differentiate between Nigerians and other black residents in the kingdom. That is why many black non-Nigerians had been deported to Nigeria through the Kano International Airport by Saudi Arabia. In those cases, Nigeria rejected the non-Nigerians.

In relation to the meeting between Muhammad and Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the commission has also gone into partnership with some other government agencies in the areas of ensuring pilgrims’ education and orientation, curbing trafficking and abscondment in Hajj, advancing the mandate of President Buhari on fighting corruption in Hajj and ultimately implementing the demands of the Act that established the commission.

The summary of the mandate is to ensure effective and efficient service to the Nigerian pilgrims. The way to achieve this has been a herculean task which is being arrested by the manpower present in the commission, in addition to the strong political will of NAHCON’s leadership in implementing far-reaching reformation policies which were hitherto hard to implement due to “Hajj cabal”.

Muhammad Ajah

Abuja