Why we are implementing hajj savings scheme — NAHCON chairman

FILE PHOTO: NAHCON Chairman/CEO, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, addressing the first batch of Nigerian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj in Maiduguri on Thursday.

THE chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan has disclosed that the commission was forced to implement the Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS) due to the conjectural nature of hajj fare in Nigeria.

He said the scheme, which offers intending pilgrims a platform to pay for hajj gradually within a desired period, had the potential of boosting early hajj preparation with the prospect of enabling hajj subsidy in future.

Hassan made this disclosure on Thursday in an address at the 2022 post-hajj stakeholders’ meeting held at the National Mosque, Abuja.

He said: “Let me remind you that the conjectural nature of hajj fare in Nigeria is the major factor that forced NAHCON to start the implementation of the Hajj Savings Scheme without delay.

“The scheme is an arrangement that offers an intending pilgrim a long-term contributory platform to pay for hajj gradually within a desired period.

“This arrangement has the potential of boosting early hajj preparation with the prospect of enabling hajj subsidy in future.

“I must commend the leadership of the pilgrims boards in all states for their contribution and patriotism in the execution of Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS), and by extension all other stakeholders.”

He stated that NAHCON’s policy was to maintain both the HSS and conventional pay-as-you-go for the 2023 hajj, saying that: “Our hope is to bring stability to the hajj industry and to the cost of its performance from Nigeria.”

The chairman said preparations for next year’s hajj will commence on December 21 with a video conference between NAHCON and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

This, he said, was unlike what obtained for the 2022 hajj when the preparation started late due to absence of information.

Hassan declared that NAHCON, which fully became operational in 2007, carried the burden of ensuring that Nigerian pilgrims received the best services home and away.

“This duty is indeed intricate because it is a task that forces the commission to be reliant like a machine wheel that needs all its cogs to fit in order to spin unhindered,” he said.

According to him, the stakeholders’ meeting was convened to bring together the creme de la creme of the hajj industry in Nigeria in order to brainstorm and collectively review the 2022 hajj and proffer solutions for improvement.

In a goodwill message, the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Pilgrimage, Honourable Abubakar Hassan Nalaraba, called on stakeholders to make amends to the challenges noted in this year’s hajj.

Nalaraba said: “There is no successful hajj without peculiar challenges associated with it.

“We all know what were the challenges of the 2022 to hajj exercise, and I do hope that we are going to make some necessary amendments and adjustments to make the 2023 hajj better.

“Both NAHCON and state agencies would continue to improve our relationships and corrections in the 2022 Hajj to make the next Hajj more successful.”

He gave the assurance that his committee would continue to partner with both NAHCON and state pilgrims welfare boards to ensure the best for Nigerian pilgrims.

“The House Committee on Pilgrimage will continue to work in harmonious relationship with both NAHCON and state welfare boards to ensure Nigerian pilgrims get value for their money,” the lawmaker said.

He then urged major hajj stakeholders, operators and administrators to see hajj as an act of Ibadah and a trust bestowed on their shoulders, for which they would give account.