MUCH ADO ABOUT NAHCON’S RELEGATION AND PROBE

It is quite unfortunate that at the time the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has laid solid foundations for excellent Hajj management in Nigeria and competing with world best practices, there are still some Nigerians calling for its relegation to a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Why do some Nigerians take joy in fighting what is good for the country? If there is any federal government agency that has stabilised its operations and has yielded national and international repute for the nation, NAHCON should be fingered as one.

Recently, there are some distractions from some quarters in the name of probe over operational matters that will save the nation and the Nigerian pilgrims huge sums of money. I pray the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly are not manipulated to cause harm to the plans being put in place for the benefit of the pilgrims in the forthcoming Hajj exercise. There are greater achievements every year recorded by the commission. The 2016 achievements have already thrown up the challenges for opportunities for a better outing during the 2017 Hajj. That is why distractions at this moment should be ultimately discouraged.

No one needs to be reminded of the difficulties Nigerian pilgrims underwent every year during Hajj before the birth of NAHCON in 2007 through its 2006 Act and during the era of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. For the sake of God, humanity and Nigeria, this call to scrap or merge NAHCON has to be collectively fought to a standstill by wellmeaning Nigerians. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should stop making this call. It is needless because throughout the period the pilgrimage body was under it, the story was all woes. The ministry should rather work with the NAHCON since it has a member on the board of the commission.

Or was the ministry not aware of the act by the national assembly which, I am sure underwent public scrutiny and hearing before it underwent first, second and third reading at the hallowed chambers? Or was the ministry not convinced with the explanations of the architects of the act, some of whom are still alive today? Or was the ministry not satisfied with the reasons given by the then president of the Federal Republic for creating the commission? Or has the commission, in any way failed in executing its mandate of “serving the Nigerian pilgrims diligently?

The commission which was born out of dire necessity has no option than to deliver on its mandate. This is because NAHCON is one of the most supervised agencies of the federal government. And fortunately, it is delivering. Every action taken by the commission is approved by the Presidency under the office of the Secretary to the Government of The Federation. The Senate committee on Foreign Affairs led by Senator Monsurat Sunmonu and the House committee on Foreign Affairs and Nigeria-Saudi Arabia Parliamentary Friendship and Hajj Affairs, Hon. Abdullahi Balarabe-Salame screen every bit of NAHCON’s activity. Sen. Sunmonu on many occasions has expressed satisfaction with the operations of the commission. In many of the stakeholders’ meetings, she openly commended the commission for ensuring transparency and commitment in its activities.

These supervisions by these three organs of the federal government do not end in Nigeria. Both committees of the National Assembly, office of the SGF as well as other related committees continue their role while in Saudi. On this note, I think the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hajia Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim has every reason to defend her ministry, though her appeal to members of the House of Representatives committee on Nigeria-Saudi Arabia Parliamentary Friendship and Hajj Affairs, led by its chairman, Abdullahi Salame, who visited her was misplaced. I think she could not have made this plea if she considered the painful experiences Nigeria underwent throughout the years pilgrims’ affairs and management were a mere department in the ministry. Nonetheless, there is no way NAHCON can operate without the support of the ministry considering what she described as diplomatic cycle.

All major stakeholders are not happy with the call by the ministry. The leaderships of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN), chairmen and executive secretaries of state pilgrims’ welfare boards, commissions and agencies have condemned any move to pull back pilgrimage affairs to the ministry. President of AHOUN, Alhaji Abdulfattah Abdulmajeed, while speaking at a workshop on Hajj in Abuja strongly opposed the ministry’s stand. He carpeted any such suggestion because, “It was not only out of tune, but totally unacceptable.” Muhammad Ajah, Abuja