… says all applicants went through rigorous screening
• Commission proactive about pilgrims’ wellbeing – Media Group
In a swift response to allegations of racketeering against the selection process for the membership of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Medical Team, the Commission has maintained that all members were subjected to rigorous screening.
In a statement issued by Shafii Sani Mohammed of the Information and Publications Division, the Commission said a Steering Committee headed by Commissioner of Planning, Research, Statistics, Information and Library Services (PRSILS), Prof. Abubakar Yagawal, to coordinate the selection process of the adhoc medical personnel.
The allegation against the adhoc medical staff selection were made against the Hajj regulatory body in a report by the Daily Nigerian online newspaper.
The newspaper quoted a staff of NAHCON as saying the process of selection lacked clear-cut criteria.
“It is pathetic. There is no criteria for picking the staff for 2025 Hajj as it used to be. It is clearly a case of extortion and crass nepotism,” the staff allegedly said.
The report also described as excessive, the number of ad-hoc medical staff being considered.
“Sources revealed that over 30,000 health professionals have applied through the medical team portal, despite NAHCON’s intention to recruit only 300 medical personnel—a figure considered by observers to be excessive for the 50,000 pilgrims registered for this year’s Hajj,” it read.
Muslim News observes that the National Medical Team for Hajj usually consists doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and paramedics.
Sani Mohammed, in his reaction, stated that the principal officers of the steering committee saddled with the responsibility of selecting successful members for the National Medical Team for Hajj 2025, were drawn from the professional field outside NAHCON.
“To be precise, out of the number of applications retrieved from the Medical Team Application portal, only 8452 were appropriately completed.
“All applicants were subjected to rigorous screening based on professional qualifications, past record of participation in the Medical Team which must not be within the last three years, willingness to participate on grounds of volunteerism, physical fitness, and availability for the Hajj period,” he said.
Sani Mohammed also dismissed allegations of nepotism in the selection of NAHCON staff for the 2025 Hajj offshore operation.
Daily Nigerian had quoted one of the staff of the Commission as saying, “Many staff members who didn’t spend up to six months in NAHCON are now picked for the 2025 Hajj, leaving behind experienced staff.”
But according to Sani Mohammed, the staff selection was based on a variety of factors including office attendance, role relevance, past performance, disciplinary record, and operational needs—not just seniority or years of service in the Commission.
“A committee led by Director Administration was set up for the selection of Staff for this year’s operations as was the practice in the previous years. Members of the committee included representatives from the Staff Union who painstakingly worked on the selection of operational staff under oath of impartiality and secrecy and necessary input from Heads of Units” he said.
“Any staff not on the list could either be as a result of disciplinary actions, health issues, pregnancy as related to female staff, absenteeism or vote of no confidence by the staff’s supervising officer and also budgetary constraints.
“For emphasis, all selections, whether relating to junior staff or management staff, went through a vetting process coordinated with departmental heads. However, in exceptional cases, competence and availability were prioritized in the overall interest of the operation,” he added.
On its part, the Association of Hajj Media Support Professionals (AHMSP) described the allegations of racketeering levelled against NAHCON in the Daily Nigerian report as unfounded and misleading.
The National Coordinator of the AHMSP, Ibrahim Abubakar Nagarta, said in a statement that the online newspaper is known for its habitual sensational reportage.
“To start with, the newspaper alleged that the 300 ad-hoc members for the national medical team, which the National Hajj Commission intends to recruit to cater for over 50,000 Nigerian pilgrims is excessive.
“Additionally, the writer of that unsubstantiated piece and laughable vilification attempt, went further to cite example of the top 10 countries which according to him have the highest number of pilgrims, pointing out that even such countries did not recruit the large number of health personnels as Nigeria did.
“However, the writer failed to enumerate those countries by name and the figure of pilgrims they have for those who may wish to dig further, in order to substantiate his argument for public confidence.”
The Hajj Media Support Professionals said NAHCON is being proactive about the health and wellbeing of Nigerian pilgrims by intending to recruit that amount of ad-hoc medical staff.
“By reasonable assumption, there are over 50,000 pilgrims for 2025 hajj exercise from Nigeria, and 300 health workers expectedly to be engaged, which many keen observers opined as grossly inadequate considering the requirement for international health standards as being advocated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Therefore, if one critically analyses, he or she will find out that on the average, every single health personnel will have 167 pilgrims to take care of. Then how can any sound-minded individual or group with genuine human concern and feelings dare criticise NAHCON for attempting to be considerate and proactive about the health wellbeing of Nigerian pilgrims?” the media group queried.
It added that NAHCON should ignore attempts by sponsored agents of doom to distract it from discharging the good work it has been doing for the overall success of the forthcoming hajj exercise.
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