The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has withheld 8.5 million Saudi Riyal (N3.65 billion) Hajj refunds meant for Nigerian pilgrims for more than one year.
This newspaper uncovered this after a detailed investigation through review of official documents and interviews with insiders.
The findings revealed that Saudi Arabia paid NAHCON a total of 22,773,137.2 Saudi Riyal (N9.74 billion) as refunds for poor services during 2023 Hajj.
NAHCON, however, only publicly acknowledged and disclosed 20.63 million Saudi Riyal (N8.9 billion) refunds to states and tour operators.
Of the 20.63 million Saudi Riyal NAHCON acknowledged and disclosed publicly, it only disbursed 14.3 million Saudi Riyal to the pilgrims, withholding 6.4 million Saudi Riyal.
Moreover, the commission claimed it couldn’t disburse the 6.4 million Saudi Riyal because Saudi Arabia did not send narrations attached to it.
The breakdown of the 20.63 million Saudi Riyal acknowledged by the Hajj commission comprises 16.29 million Saudi Riyal from the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, as a refund for “staying in Arafat” for 2023 Hajj and released on January 15, 2024; 1.17 million Saudi Riyal from the same ministry as an “emergency expenses refund” for 2023 Hajj, released on December 27, 2023.
There are also 517,891 Saudi Riyal as another “emergency expenses refund” from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah for 2022 Hajj and released on December 27, 2023; and 2.6 million Saudi Riyal “multiple combined refund” for “services compensation” from a service company released on December 27, 2023. The other two additional refunds yet to be disclosed by NAHCON to states, tour operators as well as members of the public, according to insiders, are 1,735,229.02 Saudi Riyal released on October 24, 2024, for 2023 state quota pilgrims; and 400,000 Saudi Riyal meant for tour operators pilgrims released to the Hajj commission on December 10, 2024. This brings the total refunds lodged at NAHCON coffers to 22,773,137.2 Saudi Riyal (N9.74 billion), making the refunds yet to be disbursed to stand at 8.5 million Saudi Riyal (N3.65 billion), not 6.4 million Saudi Riyal as the commission seems to be claiming.
This newspaper reports that there are at least three types of refunds after every Hajj operation. These include a refund to intending pilgrims who paid Hajj fare but didn’t travel, a refund arising from penalties from erring service providers, and a refund for services not rendered or rendered unsatisfactorily. In a statement dated December 5, 2024 and signed by its spokesperson Fatima Sanda Usara, NAHCON only acknowledged 20.63 million Saudi Riyal refunds, saying “For the benefit of clearing any doubts, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria received in five tranches the sum of SR20,716, 035.2 (twenty million Saudi Riyals, seven hundred and sixteen thousand, thirty-five point two Halalas) as various categories of unexplained refunds.” She said, “NAHCON is still anticipating narration on a total of SR6,466,035.15.”
Mrs Usara said the commission had written several letters to the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah requesting details on handing over the monies to the rightful owners.
With the preparation for the 2025 Hajj in top gear, the commission is silent on the 2024 Hajj refunds. Findings by this newspaper revealed that even the decision by the commission to disburse the refunds was because of the pressure mounted by the forum of state pilgrims’ boards.
“It was the same pressure by the states that forced the commission to come later to admit that there were refunds without narrations,” a staff of the commission said. He said it was clear the states “are now reasserting themselves, like never before, to fight for their pilgrims.”
It was found out that the states are now agitating that there are non-offshore refunds still with NAHCON since the Covid-19 period.
Stakeholders are calling for forensic audit of NAHCON accounts to identify all the money belonging to states and ensure that it’s given to them.
Hajj refunds crisis
The commission has been mired in controversies arising from a series of corruption allegations leading to the sack of two chief executives of the commission — Barrister Zikirullah Kunle Hassan and Barrister Jalal Ahmed Arabi — within the span of one year.
The commission has been the subject of various investigations and even raids by ICPC, EFCC and DSS over alleged corruption, misappropriation and money laundering by various cadre of officials – with the cases still pending.
President Bola Tinubu’s N90 billion intervention funds for the 2024 Hajj was the last straw that broke the camel’s back – exposing the rot in the commission’s financial ecosystem – and arrest and detention of key officials.
Also, weeks before his sack, Mr Zikirullah had to write to the Presidency requesting about N25 billion bailout to settle the balances of the Hajj airlines, which President Tinubu had granted. This is because even though pilgrims paid their Hajj fares in time, NAHCON couldn’t release them to CBN in time due to alleged managerial ineptitude of the commission, leading to foreign exchange fluctuations.
This is the biggest scandal that rocked the commission since its establishment that cost the federal government N25 billion. President Tinubu had to pay up to avert a looming nationwide embarrassment that would make the commission ask pilgrims to cough up additional money after returning from Hajj.
This brings to N115 billion as the total intervention by President Tinubu in less than two years to the commission — that for over a decade became self-sufficient by not collecting federal government grants to fund its operations.
Despite the commission’s new leadership under Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman’s earlier call to anti-graft agencies to monitor state pilgrims’ agencies, the commission is doing very little to ensure that states disburse the Hajj refunds to the beneficiaries in a transparent manner, insiders said. They complained that there is also no template for monitoring the refunds disbursement to beneficiaries on the side of the commission. This opaqueness in NAHCON’s fiscal management, stakeholders said, has helped in deepening schisms in the flora and fauna of Nigerian Hajj ecosystem. For instance, the Hajj commission announced N108 million (500,000 Saudi Riyal) as refunds for services not rendered or rendered poorly in the 2022 Hajj. However, insiders said the actual amount could have reached 12 million Saudi Riyal if the commission had not compromised or failed to dutifully verify the actual services not rendered. This was confirmed by a Hajj analyst, ‘Yinka Raheem in 2023, when he revealed in a publicized newspaper article that the Mu’assasah deducted 1.5 million Saudi Riyal from a single service provider alone that year. This service provider took further steps to inform the commission of what was deducted from him by the Mu’assasah. This applies to dozens of other service providers.
A Hajj stakeholder explained that the fact that 1.5 million Saudi Riyal was deducted by the Mu’assasah from one service provider, and only 500,000 Saudi Riyal was paid to NAHCON, led credence to Mr Raheem’s revelation that the actual refund accruable to the commission would have hit 12 million Saudi Riyal. To date, the Hajj commission has not come out publicly to refute this allegation.
The Hajj refund crisis has been deepening with travel agents under the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN) threatening to pull out of the commission’s 2025 preparations for Hajj operations recently.
In September 2024, the tour operators accused NAHCON of withholding N2.75 billion belonging to its members. This claim was faulted by some stakeholders who have inside knowledge of the issue.
The AHUON National President Abdullateef Ekundayo said, “Even this 20 million Saudi Riyal, if not for the investigation EFCC conducted on the commission, we wouldn’t have known that it has been paid since December 2023.”
An official of one of the state pilgrims board who spoke in confidence for fear of a backlash said, “The withholding of the over 8.5 million Saudi Riyal Hajj refund is reprehensible and uncalled for.”
The top official said it is “contradictory that NAHCON, who called ICPC and EFCC to monitor state pilgrims’ boards, is now withholding billions of Hajj refunds.”
The state official said the reason advanced by NAHCON is not tenable. “All refunds are categorized and beneficiaries identified. It is therefore laughable that the commission is saying lack of breakdown and narrations are reasons behind the delay. Going by its explanation, does
it also mean that the two additional refunds of 1.73 million Saudi Riyal and 400,000 Saudi Riyal that NAHCON refused to disclose also came without narrations and breakdown? This is funny and ambiguous. The commission needs to look inward and come clean on this issue. Anti-graft agencies must be involved to unravel this mystery.”
The insider said after Jalal Arabi’s “scandalous era, we thought the intensity of recklessness would reduce, but unfortunately, it seems to be abating under the new leadership.” The source further alleged that the withheld refunds may likely be used for travels and DTAs by the top officials of the commission. In recent years, the commission has no respect for budgetary regulations.”
The insider claimed that the purported apparent lack of capacity by the incumbent NAHCON Chairman Abdullahi Usman creates an aperture for some commissioners and top management officials to take advantage of him in policy-making.
A long-term staff of the commission who served both Musa Bello, Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, and Zikirullah told this newspaper that the last term the commission conducted a transparent refund was during Mr Mukthar’s tenure, from 2015 to 2019.
“Even though I was not Mr Abdullahi Mukhtar’s fan when he was chairman because of his strictness and religious adherence to the rules, I can remember with nostalgia how he ensured the timely publication of the detailed refunds state-by-state and the amounts. Also, he deployed teams of NAHCON staff to states and tour operators’offices to ensure that the refunds were paid to the bona fide pilgrims. He also deployed anti-graft agencies’ officers to monitor the states’ compliance. These officers write a comprehensive report at the end of the exercise,” he said.
He recalled that in the past, the balance of the refunds unclaimed were returned to the commission by the states and tour operators. But that doesn’t happen now. The veteran staff tackled AHUON for its inability to ensure its members disburse the refunded funds to the affected private pilgrims. He alleged that over 90% of the tour operators have not paid the refunds to their pilgrims.
He regretted that unlike during Mr Abdullahi Mukhtar’s time, there is no mechanism in place now to ensure tour operators disburse the refunds to the beneficiaries. The official said ICPC and EFCC must invite tour operators to show evidence of disbursement to the beneficiaries. The top official urged EFCC and ICPC to investigate the 8.5 million Saudi Riyal Hajj refunds in NAHCON custody. “If that is not done, the commission may end up spending it on needless travels with bogus claims. Staff do travel without any schedule. A job that can be done by two or three staff members, the commission can send 15 or 20 staff members just to justify the expenses,” the official said. The staff appealed to Vice President Kashim Shettima to sack the chairman and disband the NAHCON board before it was too late. He also called for forensic audit of the NAHCON accounts from 2020 to date.
Reactions by NAHCON, AHUON When contacted, Mrs Usara said Saudi Arabia has not provided the requested narration and breakdown of the 6.4 million Saudi Riyal refunds. She said NAHCON has decided to share the money to all pilgrims who participated in the 2023 Hajj. “But this can only be done after consultations with the key stakeholders, that is states and tour operators,” she said.
On 2014 Hajj refunds, the NAHCON spokesperson said she was not aware of such refunds. “I have not heard anything about 2024 Hajj refunds. We are still working to resolve the 2023 Hajj refunds,” Mrs Usara said. The spokesperson said the commission had directed all tour operators to return evidence of disbursement to the commission. “And the tour operators have been doing that. After some time, the commission would compile the names of the defaulters and send them to the Evaluation and Monitoring Committee for necessary disciplinary action,”Mrs Usara said. On the additional refunds, she said she was not in the office on Thursday to provide a clear perspective on the matter.
On the level of compliance by AHUON members, Mr Ekundayo said they have sent circulars to all AHUON members to disburse the refunds to pilgrims and keep evidence of the disbursement.
On what the association would do to defaulting ones, he said “only NAHCON can sanction erring members. We don’t have such powers. We only encourage our members to disburse the refunds because the money belongs to the pilgrims.”
