By GARBA MUHAMMAD, Kaduna

The Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR) has set up a 5-man team that will monitor the activities of appointed hajj officials and service providers to Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

The team will work with the Inspectorate and Evaluation Committee of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), the IHR National Coordinator Ibrahim Muhammad said in a statement on Thursday.

The not-for-profit civil society organization said the team was set up to ensure that all officials carry out their assigned tasks as spelled out in their schedule of duty.

The team will also ensure that service providers engaged to serve Nigerian pilgrims in areas of accommodation, transport, feeding, sanitation, tents in Muna and Arafat live up to expectation by providing quality services to Nigerian pilgrims.

The team will be headed by the IHR National Coordinator Ibrahim Muhammad, to be assisted by the Secretary General Nuruddeen M. Abdallah, Head of Publications Sani Tukur, Jidda Abubakar, and Mustapha Hodi.

The statement said, “over the years, we have observed that some officials, especially adhoc ones, abandon their duties once they get to Saudi Arabia. This ugly trend affects the quality of services that was expected to be offered to our dear pilgrims.”

The CSO said, “some officials even go as far as personally demanding to be served instead of serving the pilgrims, which is the primary reason they are appointed.”

“Hajj officials from other countries are always in uniform for easy identification and are at the service of their pilgrims 24 hours. Most of them don’t perform hajj because they consider their primary responsibility of serving their respective pilgrims weightier than any other secondary issue.

“We are going to obtain the comprehensive lists of all states and NAHCON-appointed hajj officials and monitor their performance throughout the hajj,” the statement said.

Mr Muhammad said the committee will particularly work with the Inspectorate department in monitoring the officials and service providers in Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, Muna and Arafat.

“The committee will compile its observations in a form of a report which will be forwarded to all relevant officials for further actions and to serve as a guide towards recruitment of adhoc officials in subsequent hajj exercise,” the statement said.

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