By SALISU SANI-IDRIS

President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to immediately reduce the 2026 Hajj fares it recently announced.

The Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Sen. Ibrahim Hadeija, made this known while briefing State House Correspondents after a meeting with the officials of NAHCON, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NAHCON, after due consultations with all the relevant stakeholders, had announced the 2026 hajj fares.

It said that Maiduguri-Yola Zone (Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba) would pay N8,318,336.67.

The Commission also said that Northern States would pay N8,244,813.67, while Southern States pay N8,561,013.67.

Hadeija, said Tinubu felt the need for the Commission to look at the possibility of reducing the hajj fare.

He said, “This meeting was essentially called at the instance of His Excellency, the Vice-President, to look at the possibility of reducing the Hajj fare for the 2026 pilgrimage.

“As you know, the hajj fare component is about 95 to 96 per cent foreign exchange based.

“The fares announced by the NAHCON were based on a very pessimistic exchange rate of N1,550.

“The rates have continued to improve steadily with the naira appreciating based on the effects of the economic reforms of the government taking place.”

Hadeija stated that the vice-president felt that, if pilgrims paid between N8.5million to N8.6 million during the last pilgrimage based on negative exchange rate, they should benefit now that the exchange rate had improved.

“We should also pass the benefits to them and all the officers of the Hajj commission are here, and they have been told to immediately go to look at more realistic exchange rates.

“If they apply that, we should be able to bring the hajj fare to N7.6 million to N7.7 million.

“The final figure will be announced in the next two days.

“But this is also dependent on very quick remittance of the funds from the State Muslims Pilgrim Welfare Boards.

“The faster the pilgrims pay their hajj fares and they are remitted to the hajj commission, the faster they can pass it to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to buy the dollars for them.

“So, if we achieve that, we foresee a situation where pilgrims this year will have a very significant reduction in the Hajj rate.

On his part, the Chairman, Kebbi Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Faruk Yaro, expressed gratitude to President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima for their timely intervention.

He said, “We are very happy because the president and the vice-president have already intervened.

“We thank God for what they have done, which is expected to bring down the hajj fare.”

Also, the Secretary of NAHCON, Dr. Mustapha Mohammad, said, “it is a welcome development and the lower the hajj fare is, the more Muslims will have the opportunity of performing the hajj.

“So, as directed by the vice-president, we will work tirelessly between today and tomorrow to see that we reduce it to an affordable rate where each and every Muslim will have the opportunity to perform this very important pillar of Islam.” (NAN)