By Ibrahim Abubakar Nagarta
The Association of Hajj Media Support Professionals (AHMSP), a registered civil organization that is dedicated and committed to providing real time, accurate and balanced information as well as robust enlightenment campaigns to Nigerian pilgrims and the entire Muslim community in the country about events and happenings in the hajj industry across the nation, is sad and highly disappointed to have come across a purely sensational and self-centered narrative by a negligible section of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN) members, an association expected to be at the vanguard of championing the cause of a successful hajj operation.
We are sad about their negative and tendentious narrative because the central focus of their activities should be the well-being of Nigerian pilgrims and the country’s image at both local and global levels not personal gains as Muslim faithful.
Unfortunately however, some handful members of the aforementioned association were blindly and shamelessly calling for Mr. President’s swift intervention and involvement in the affairs of the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), to instruct the Commission to off its hands on some vital components of hajj operation such as catering, accommodation and transportation which are the bedrocks upon which a successful Hajj or otherwise could be assessed or measured.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a gentleman of principle, justice and fairness, he knows pretty well that Prof. Abdullahi Saleh Usman is up to the task of transforming and moving the hajj commission to a higher level to the envy of fault finders and critics, that was why he appointed him, considering his past impeccable records of selfless service to humanity and Islam.
Those AHOUN members who are crying wolf where there is none, are by obvious reasons more concerned about their pockets rather than the welfare of the pilgrims they claim to be protecting.
Reports in the past indicated that, performance of those service providers which some of the AHOUN members are now asking to be accorded the liberty to contract again was terrible. Therefore, the current NAHCON leadership will never allow a repeat of those dark days when substandard services were rendered to the Nigerian pilgrims.
Prof. Abdullahi Saleh Usman insists that henceforth, pilgrims must have value for their money, hence the bitterness of those aggrieved and negligible AHOUN members.
Another probable factor for which the present NAHCON regime is getting involved in virtually every stage of the hajj operation for the first time in*l the commission’s history might not be unconnected with the concern and efforts of the NAHCON’s boss to streamline and curtail the nefarious activities of swindlers and quality of services compromisers whom have over the years taken undue advantage to subject innocent Nigerian pilgrims to unnecessary and untold hardship.
It is imperative at this juncture to remind all stakeholders in the Nigerian hajj industry that, the regulatory and supervisory roles of the National hajj commission of Nigerian (NAHCON), cut across all strata of hajj management and operations irrespective of who is directly or indirectly involved, because the primary and most important oversight function of NAHCON is to protect the interest of all Nigerian pilgrims whether under State’s pilgrims boards or tour operators.
Last but not the least, the “Association of Hajj Media Support Professionals” is loudly calling on all hajj stakeholders to join hands with NAHCON leadership to make 2025 hajj operations record a resounding success.
* Ibrahim Abubakar Nagarta, Chairman Association of Hajj Media Support Professionals, writes from Kaduna, Nigeria /5 /04/2025
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