By GARBA MUHAMMAD, Kaduna

The Independent Hajj Reporters IHR, a faith-based civil society organization that monitors and reports on Hajj and Umrah activities, has commended the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria NAHCON, for selecting a new Saudi-based Hajj service provider for the 2025 Hajj exercise.

A statement signed by the National Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Muhammed, on Sunday January 19, 2025, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, said the decision would create healthy competition among service providers interested in efficient, quality and satisfactory service delivery to Nigerian pilgrims.

"We applaud the decision to pick another service provider that will cater for the needs of pilgrims within the Masha?ir areas during the five days of Hajj", he observed.

The national coordinator also stated that the quest for improved Hajj services has been a major challenge for Nigerian pilgrims owing to the repeated failure of providing satisfactory services.

According to him, IHR further understood that NAHCON is planning to recruit another service provider to provide services for VIP pilgrims so as not to repeat the experience of previous years, which is also a desired step forward.

He however, urged NAHCON to set a parameter of performance for the newly selected Service Providers to serve as a baseline for determining continuous patronage.

"Such criteria should be based on pilgrims? satisfaction and adherence to contractual terms", he stated.

He said available information showed that the new Company, Mashariq Al Dhahabia, is an experienced provider that has served top-rated Hajj countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, and ranked among the top five Hajj service providers by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

The Company served 249 706 which is the largest number of hajj pilgrims during the 2023 hajj. They were awarded as the Best Hajj Service Providers during the 2022 Hajj by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

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