The House of Representatives today set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the activities of Nigeria Hajj Commission and Federal Capital Territory Administration Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board and their agents and sub agents in the conduct of the 2024 Hajj exercise.
This followed a motion by Mohammed Umar Bio (APC, Kwara) accusing the Commission and Federal Capital Territory Administration Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board of shoddy preparation and execution of the 2024 Hajj exercise.
The committee which is headed by Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) has two weeks to carry out it’s assignment and report back to the House.
Leading the debate on the motion, Bio said the Hajj exercise is important in the life of every Muslims and is, in fact, one of the five pillars of Islam, while NAHCON was set up to provide efficient and effective services to the pilgrims through implementation of NAHCON Act.
According to him, about 50, 865 Muslim Pilgrims across the states in Nigeria were under the care of NAHCON and some of them were not taken care of in terms of welfare, organization, guidance and monitoring as expected.
Bio spoke of the huge amount paid by the Pilgrims for the 2024 Hajj exercise, NAHCON’s 2024 Budget Allocation, intervention from the Federal Government to the tune of 90 Billion Naira and support from Government of Saudi Arabia, NAHCON’s and FCTA Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board’s below performance in the 2024 Hajj Exercise especially in Makkah and Mina is unexpected.
He said that if this poor performance of NAHCON is not investigated with a view to improved future performance, further Hajj exercise for Nigerian citizens may be more complicated and put the entire country in bad light in the committee of nations.