The house of representatives has moved a motion to investigate the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria NAHCON and the FCT Pilgrim Welfare Board for what it described as poor services rendered and mismanagement of pilgrims during the just concluded 2024 Hajj operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
A motion of urgent public Importance which was was voted for and adopted today Thursday 11th July by a member representing Bauten/Kayama federal constituency of Kwara state Mohammed Umar Bio stated that, Hajj Exercise is an important pillar of islam which needs proper handling.
However, the honourable member expressed his disappointment over how NAHCON as a regulator could not give good and satisfying services to the over 50,000 pilgrims that travel for the 2024 hajj pilgrimage.
He noted that the commission did not take care of pilgrims properly, especially in Makka and Muna despite the provision of N90Bln made available by the federal government for the smooth execution of the annual pilgrimage.
the house of Reps and the public should condemn the performance of NAHCON and FCt pilgrim welfare board and to also set up a committee to investigate the commission.
Contributing to the motion on the floor of the house, honourable Ali ISA Jessy from Gombe state said that NAHCON was established after the Nigerian pilgrimage act with the sole purpose to supervise, coordinate, and provide accommodation for pilgrims, medical care, as well as other basic needs of the Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land.
Noting that this year’s pilgrims spent over eight million naira without being properly taken care of, he also lamented how VIPs who spent over twenty million naira to travel were not given tents resulting in many sleeping outside.
Honourable Ali further suggests that an ad-hoc committee should be set up to investigate the commission who claimed it spent over 40 billion naira for just this year’s hajj with no tangible satisfaction to the pilgrims
The honourable member further states that he has already sponsored a bill to amend the NAHCON act to be given the power to States to oversee the proper handling of hajj pilgrimage in future.
The motion was referred to an ad-hoc committee to be constituted for proper investigation into the matter.