Niger State Governor, Umar Bago has expressed anxiety over the operations of National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), and has vowed to lead campaign to abolish the commission. NAHCON is a federal government agency responsible for the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and oversees the operation of Nigerian clinics in Medina, Mecca, and Muna. The governor stated this in an interview with journalists in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, adding that the body should be decentralized, act as a regulator rather than managing the entire Hajj.
“The federal government is too big to be worried about Hajj problems. This is a local government issue, not a state one. State governments should be able to organize pilgrimages and engage agents from the private sector who can manage this more effectively, as other countries do. The government has no business in doing this.”
Bago’s position aligns with one of the recommendations of the Oronsaye Report, which recommended the scrapping of NAHCON and the Nigeria Christian Pilgrimage Commission (NCPC).
There has always been contention between NAHCON and state governors over the management of Hajj operations. Governors believe that their welfare boards should be in charge of organizing Hajj, with NAHCON limited to a regulatory role.
The Governor also questioned utilizing the N90 billion federal government’s intervention fund for the 2024 Hajj, suggesting that the fund could have served other purposes, such as education.
Similarly, the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, raised similar concerns and called for the decentralization of the commission’s operations.