NAHCON inaugurates 10-man hajj security committee

Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Abdullahi Muhammad has inaugurated a 10-man central security monitoring committee for the 2019 Hajj operations.

NAHCON Head of Public Affairs, Mrs. Fatima Usara made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Usara explained that members of the committee were drawn from the security and other agencies, namely, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of State Services (DSS), the police and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Others are the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and Special Services Department of the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) among others.

Usara said that members of the committee have been tasked with the burden of managing security matters in all aspects of the 2019 hajj beginning from local fronts onward to foreign domains.

She also said that the committee is charged to be proactive, watching out for preventive strategies rather than post-mortem analysis of unfortunate occurrences.

“Particularly, their attention shall be drawn to drug related as well as human trafficking felons waiting to take advantage of the pilgrimage period to carry out their heinous trades.

“Generally, they are expected to gather intelligence reports that will guide the commission even in its future plans,” she said.

Usara said that the ultimate objective of the team is to carry out missions that would translate to safety of Nigerian pilgrims from the moment they set out to the airports, to the period of their stay in Saudi Arabia until they return to Nigeria.

“You are urged to look out for miscreants exploiting naive Nigerian pilgrims during hajj seasons,” she charged.