Last week Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari, via a letter, requested the Nigerian Senate to confirm his new nominees as chairman and commissioners of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON.
With this, the third Board of the Commission headed by Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, which was inaugurated on 27th May, 2015 by then Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo, effectively completed its statutory four years, and a seven-month extension granted by the President.
The Commission was set up 13 years ago by the NAHCON (Establishment) Act, 2006 which was passed by the upper and lower chambers of National Assembly on the 27th and 28th of September, 2006 and signed into law by President Olusegun Obasanjo on 12th October, 2006.
The Act, which repealed the Nigerian Pilgrims Commission Act Cap 321, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 empowers the NAHCON to regulate all activities relating to the performance of Muslim pilgrimage, Hajj or Umrah (main and lesser hajj) from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia.
Although hajj is one of the five fundamental pillars of Islam, and its performance is obligatory on all Muslims who can afford it among other prerequisites, the conduct of hajj operations in Nigeria for many years has brought tears to the faces of intending pilgrims.
This was due to haphazard flight scheduling, criminal racketeering of hajj application forms, swindling pilgrims of their basic travel allowances, provision of pathetic accommodation in the holy land, pervasiveness of fraudulent private tour operators who scam pilgrims on hajj visas, and general operational inefficiency.
We recall with dismay, the national opprobrium generated many years ago when Nigeria failed to meet the global deadline for closure of Jeddah airport.
Even when the Saudi King gracious granted extension of the deadline by 48 hours, Nigeria still failed to airlift about 15,0000 intending pilgrims. This was part of the challenges Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad met and remarkably tackled as Chairman/CEO of NAHCON.
It is to his credit that the time spent by the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia during Hajj has been reduced as he ensured that promises made by States’ Pilgrims Welfare Boards and private operators were fulfilled in such areas as feeding, accommodation and transportation.
The import of these achievements may not be understood by those who do not know how pilgrims suffered in the hands of pilgrims’ boards and some private operators in the past who collected money for visas that were usually issued free of charge. Millions of dollars went into private pockets through this scam.
During his tenure Barrister Muhammad succeeded in enforcing discipline and standards by imposing strict sanctions for any breach of pilgrims rights by hajj operators at all levels, either committed at home or abroad.
His tenure also embraced a practical approach to management. His team started work from Nigeria by ensuring that properly registered Hajj Tour Operators were licensed to move pilgrims to the holy land.
Back in Saudi Arabia, the NAHCON team would inspect hotels to ensure the pilgrims were offered the right welfare as promised.
This, again, corrected the previously common scam where five or six pilgrims were crammed into an accommodation meant for four or three. It also helped to enlighten pilgrims about their rights in the holy land.
The Hajj Development Levy Projects started by him across the country’s Hajj transit camps included the construction of hotel-like accommodation for pilgrims, construction of clinics to be used by pilgrims free-of-charge during Hajj airlift and by the community at a subsidized rates.
Some of these projects have been completed and handed over to the state welfare boards and some are in different stages of development.
Perhaps one of the most enduring legacies of the Mukhtar Muhammad era as Chairman of NAHCON is the purchase of a gigantic edifice in Abuja as head office complex for the Commission.
For a commission that was not statutorily set up to generate revenue, this feat could only have been possible due to prudent management of financial resources.
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It is also to his credit that, by owning such a prime commercial property in central business district of the city, NAHCON is now effectively positioned to secure its financial autonomy from government through internally generated revenue.
Little wonder that the commission under Barrister Muhammad conducted the 2019 Hajj without taking any subvention from the Federal government, and yet succeeded in charting a first of its kind achievement for efficient operations.
It is on that note that all eyes are now on the in-coming Chairman of the Commission, Barrister Dhikrullah Olakunle Hassan, who is expected to sustain the strides and even do better. He, like Mukhtar, is a perfect fit for the post, having been actively involved in hajj operations for more than a decade.
An Islamic scholar and former national President of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, MSSN, Barrister Hassan served for eight years the chairman of Osun State Pilgrims Welfare Board, a position that prepared him for the current national role.
And for having an exemplary predecessor in office, the in-coming NAHCON chairman already has a head start, as the era of Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad has been filled with indelible accomplishments which present and future generations will be proud of.
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