Over 1500 intending pilgrims miss Hajj, NAHCON takes blame

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has however expressed its regrets offering similar apologies to the Federal Government of Nigeria, State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards, Private Tour Operators, and the general public for any embarrassment the situation of the past few weeks might have caused.

The commission gave assurance that affected pilgrims will be refunded their Hajj fares while it works towards improving its deficiencies against next time.

According to the Assistant Deputy, Public Affairs of the commission, Fatima Sanda, “Despite all efforts to airlift all Nigerian intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the 2022 Hajj, NAHCON was incapacitated in discharging this responsibility fully, majorly due to last minute setbacks that frustrated its plan to conclude airlift of pilgrims by June 27 of this year.

Unfortunately, the chartered flights option that gave so much hope to NAHCON and the Private Tour Operators’ leadership also became a failure as their IBAN accounts failed accreditation by the respective authorities in Saudi Arabia.

“Specifically, the following numbers of affected pilgrims would not make it to Saudi Arabia before closure of Jeddah airport, hence they are sadly bound to miss this year’s Hajj.”

They are: nine pilgrims from Bauchi, 91 pilgrims from Plateau, 700 pilgrims from Kano and an estimated 750 pilgrims from the Private Tour Operators sector.