The Commissioner for Policy, Personnel, and Finance (PPMF) at the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Aliyu Abdulrazaq, has denied claims that he is favouring staff from the South-South region in the selection process for the 2025 Hajj operation.

A report on Saturday had claimed that NAHCON is currently facing allegations of racketeering and unscrupulous practices in its selection process for ad-hoc staff for the 2025 Hajj operation.

According to the allegation, the situation arose shortly after the NAHCON Chairman, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, inaugurated the Principal Officers of the National Medical Team (NMT) and its Steering Committee for the upcoming pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

The report alleged that ethnic and sectional considerations are at play in the staff selection for the exercise.

It specifically claimed that Abdulrazaq was among NAHCON’s top officials enlisting every staff from the South-South, where he comes from.

But responding to the claims, Abdulrazaq, who hails from Edo State, in a statement on Sunday, denied the allegations, describing them as baseless.

He clarified that NAHCON’s workforce, which totals 420 staff members, includes fewer than 10 staff from the South-South, representing less than one percent of the total personnel.

He said he remains the most transparent in the selection process.

“The entire workforce of the National Hajj Commission is 420, and the South-South has less than 10 in the entire country. There is a need for federal character balancing.

“The percentage of staff from the South in the commission is not up to one percent of the total workforce. The Commissioner PPMF remains the most transparent,” he said.