Tributes for ex-NAHCON boss, Hassan

ASSOCIATES, friends and family, on Sunday, honoured the immediate past chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan.

The occasion was a reception in Lagos organised by The Companion, an association of Muslim men in business and professions for Hassan, who is one of its members, after four years of service to the Nigerian Muslim Ummah and the nation as the head of NAHCON from December 2019 to October 2013.

Members of the association and their female counterparts under the aegis of The Criterion, in their numbers, celebrated Hassan who attended the event with his wife, Alhaja Mutiat Hassan.

Muslim News reported that friends and colleagues of the honoree in the Hajj and Umrah industry paid glowing tributes to him and extolled what they called his sterling qualities.

The chairman of the occasion and president of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN), Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo, commended Hassan’s performance during his time as the head of NAHCON.

Alhaji Oladejo recalled how former President Muhammadu Buhari invited the leadership of MUSWEN to a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and told them that he had zoned the position of NAHCON chairman to the South West and “requested for nomination from us.”

He noted: “That’s how the responsibility fell on Professor (Dawud) Noibi to scout for whom to be nominated. After going through the region (South West) and interviewing different candidates, everyone agreed that the best candidate for the job was Zikrullah Kunle Hassan.”

Oladejo eulogised the former NAHCON boss, saying he served creditably and did not disappoint the MUSWEN leadership that nominated him.

“One of his achievements is the Hajj Savings Scheme, which had been in the pipeline for so long. The scheme saw the light of day when Zikrullah Hassan was chairman; the same thing with the Hajj Institute. Many people in the Hajj business are just doing it without any formal training and during his time, he introduced the institute to the industry.

“He came to the job during the COVID-19 era and that was enough handicap, but he surmounted the challenges and successfully organised two Hajj exercises. Thank you for everything you did. We are very grateful,” he said.

In his address, the host and Amir of The Companion, Kamil Olalekan, said the leadership of the commission under Hassan would be remembered for incorporating the use of ICT and digitalisation to bring efficiency to Hajj management.

Olalekan described Hassan as a worthy ambassador of The Companion which he was serving as a national officer before he was appointed NAHCON chairman.

He noted that the Muslim Ummah was proud of the many achievements of the former NAHCON chairman, saying Hassan performed creditably and deserved commendation as he took Hajj management to an enviable level.

In his speech, Alhaji Hassan called for support for NAHCON under Malam Jalal Arabi, saying that the depreciation in the value of Naira had led to an astronomical hike in the fares for the 2024 Hajj.

Calling on the Muslim Ummah in the country to bear with NAHCON, he gave the assurance that the commission was doing everything to ease the pains of prospective pilgrims and make the 2024 Hajj exercise a success.

Other speakers at the event included a former Minister of Interior and former governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola; Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu; former Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Muiz Banire; pioneer Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Professor Dawud Noibi; Alhaji Y.K.O.Kareem; and Professor Khalid Adekoya.

Aregbesola described Hassan as an ambassador of Islam during his tenure.

Senator Shuaib Salis, representing Ogun Central at the Senate, recalled that the courage and skill demonstrated by Hassan at the helm at NAHCON was a similar feat he achieved when he led the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) at different levels in the past.