By GARBA MUHAMMAD in Makkah

Reactions have continued to trail the Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago’s call for scrapping of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) over alleged shortcomings in management of the just concluded 2024 Hajj operations.

Pilgrims and stakeholders berated the assertion by the governor, saying it was made to achieve personal interest and not the interest of Niger or Nigerian pilgrims.

“The governor is on his own ooo! Currently, our state government accommodations in Makkah is located at an isolated area, very far away from the Haram (Holy Mosque of Qa’aba)

“We were denied the opportunity to observe the obligatory prayers at the Haram because of the distance. The governor looked the other way, only for him to talk when he could not get his VIP tent A. This is not to the interest of pilgrims please,” Halilu Usman, a pilgrim said.

Jibrin Usman Kodo Public Relations Officer Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board while admitting that the accommodation is far from Haram, in a statement on Thursday night, also said that the state provided seven buses that would be shuttling all pilgrims to the Haram to and fro 24 hours every day to observe their five daily prayers.

But, in a chat some pilgrims from Niger state who were caught up by our reporter while trekking back from Haram said: “Only two buses were provided, and it is not regular.

“As you can see, many of us who wish to go to Haram will have to endure trekking for over two hours to and fro Haram. It is quite stressful. That’s why many pilgrims who do not have the strength remain in the hotel.

“How can a state that cannot secure accommodation for its pilgrims close to Haram agitate for takeover of the entire Hajj operation from NAHCON?,” Abubakar Umar, a pilgrim and a businessman told our reporter.

The Independent Hajj Reporter, IHR, a Civil Society Organization, had in a statement on Monday, signed by its national coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammad in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, described the call by Bago as a very wrong move.

The CSO noted that by virtue of diplomatic protocol, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj only relates with National Hajj missions not regional bodies.

It also observed that decentralisation as being touted will allow 36 states’ pilgrim’s welfare boards and agencies to send 36 different delegations to Saudi Arabia (the first in the History of Hajj operation) to liaise with Saudi Arabia (host country) on Hajj plans. 36 states will also sign different hajj memorandum of understanding with one country.

A legal practitioner who spoke among the pilgrims said the governor was hasty and made such assertion from the context of grudges he may have been nursing against the commission.

“He should have known better that even a legislative review from Nigeria cannot isolate NAHCON from Saudis policies of dealing directly with a country’s regulatory body.

“It’s absurd, that a state that poorly handles one of very crucial Hajj packages like accommodation for pilgrims is agitating for full control of Hajj operation”, the legal practitioner noted”.

Meanwhile, a Media Awareness Initiatives for Hajj (MAI-HAJJ), a nongovernmental organisation, said pilgrims who participated in the just concluded Hajji exercise are leaving witnesses of how the NAHCON improved feeding and accommodation arrangements in Madina and at Masha’.eer (Mina and Arafat).

This is contained in a statement on Friday, June 28^th, 2024, in Makkah, signed by the Vice Chairman (North), Uwais Abubakar Idris and the Public Relation Officer, Malam Kabiru Yusuf.

“In fact, some of the pilgrims interviewed by a team of journalists testified that both in Mina and Arafat there were leftovers of food as NAHCON supplied in excess and on time,” the group said.

The group also lamented on how the two governors embarked on media attack of the commission over the 2024 Hajj operation, despite the fact that they are fully aware that no Hajj operation, had ever been 100 per cent hitch free, not only in Nigeria, but by other countries world over.

MAI-HAJJ added that even though NAHCON and its management cannot be exonerated from some of the shortcomings, the two governors ought to have engaged NAHCON with their grievances instead of calling for either scrapping or seeking for decentralizing of the commission’s functions.

While commending the Chairman, Malam Jalal Arabi, for transforming the Commission within six months of his appointment, the group said that Arabi’s approach to the challenges he met on ground and those emerging after taking over showed his dynamism, hard work and leadership qualities.

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