The Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria has accused the leadership of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) of alleged favoritism and unjust placement of pool officers over the commission workers.

They said that if not addressed urgently, these problems may undermine the morale of dedicated NAHCON staff and hinder the commission’s efficiency in fulfilling its mandate.

The union revealed this in a letter titled, “Urgent concerns regarding the placement of pool officers and administrative lapses”, dated March 3, 2025, and addressed to the NAHCON executive council and board members.

This is the first time in the history of the commission and Hajj industry in the country that staff are officially groaning over alleged misconduct and irregularities by the commission’s leadership.

The letter obtained by this newspaper was signed by the union’s executive officers in NAHCON.

The workers’ petition came weeks after the media reported the chairman’s leadership deficiencies and alleged nepotism, and how he is being influenced by some inexperienced family members including his biological brother Surajo, who is one of the chairman’s special assistants.

Mr Surajo is accused of misleading the chairman —who is reported to have a gross deficiency in reading and writing in the English Language — to minute on official memos, a development irking the commission staff members, state pilgrims boards and tour operators.

The chairman also reportedly appointed his biological son Aliyu as his assistant.

There is also the case of Abdulmalik Diggi, the chairman’s nephew, who was brought by the chairman as SA and deployed to the department of account as a deputy director. The DD is being accused of circumventing financial regulations – in cahoots with some aides of the chairman— to approve funds without due process

Findings by this newspaper have shown that another challenge facing the commission is how one state in the Northeast cornered all the critical leadership positions in NAHCON.

Borno state currently corners most of the juicy positions in the commission — in glaring disregard to federal character principles, an insider said.

Five critical positions are all occupied by Borno state indigenes namely — the secretary to the commission, the Director of Admin and Human Resources, the Deputy Director of Audit, the Director of Protocol, the Deputy Director of Procurement, and a Board member representing Northeast.

The workers also raised the cases of civil servants who retired from their parent organizations but only to be posted to NAHCON.

Another alleged impunity is the case of Mr Usman Mamza, from Borno State, who served as legal adviser in NAHCON after he retired from the Federal Ministry of Justice in April 2024. The Director of Admin, who hails from the same state as Mamza is allegedly blocking the investigation of the case.

The commission’s Director of Protocol Bulama is reportedly still at NAHCON even though he has reached retirement age.

Insiders said there are plans to recall a staff identified as Tawfiq Tayo Akinwale, who contested the governorship election in Oyo State under the Labour Party (LP) in 2023.

Mr Akinwale contested the elections and lost while still staff at NAHCON in violation of the Electoral Act 2022 and the Public Service Rules. The Zikirullah Kunle Hassan-led leadership had to sack him after mounting pressure from the commission workers.

It was learned that a former minister from the Southwest had given a note to the incumbent NAHCON leadership to facilitate his return to the commission.

Also, many staff members of the commission, this newspaper reliably gathered, are grumbling over the alleged overbearing influence of some DSS personnel attached to the chairman. One of the DSS details, Ibrahim Abubakar, was accused of abandoning his protective detail role and dabbling into the operational and administrative affairs of the commission. An insider said the DSS detail, allegedly in cahoots with some of his colleagues outside, is deeply interfering in the administrative activities of the commission.

“There have been several administrative lapses, particularly with regards to the actions of the Chairman/CEO’s Special Assistant (SA) who has been involved in matters of payment and approvals without adhering to proper protocols,” the union said in its petition.

The union also lamented the case of a special assistant to NAHCON Chairman and CEO, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, “who has been involved in matters of payment and approvals without adhering to proper protocols.”

One of his SA’s scandals was detected, and the cabal allegedly destroyed the evidence— by shredding the official documents. Some staff members who spoke to this newspaper have called on EFCC to probe this case diligently.

The workers are miffed that at a time the commission’s chairman is busy trying to deploy the majority of the staff to the office of the Head of Service of the Federation for posting over alleged redundancy, he is at the same time appointing personal aides and deploying them to many critical departments.

Insiders told this newspaper that the chairman has already penciled down the names of 70 staff to be sent to the head of service for posting.

The union’s executives were reportedly summoned by a member of the NAHCON board representing the NIA. They were accused of “blowing up the cover of the NIA officer in NAHCON” in their petition.

However, the workers argued that the presence of NIA in the commission is illegal because it has no statutory role to play. They also said, after all, they didn’t mention the name of the affected “officer” in their petition. The workers also raised the membership of the security agency on the NAHCON board.

“This is new to us. The NAHCON Act doesn’t make provision for membership of the security agency on its board. This is another flagrant violation of the commission law,” a senior staff who spoke to our reporter anonymously said.

Another development that drew the ire of the commission’s workers is the plans by Professor Usman-led leadership to spend N640 million to sponsor 50 staff to “travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah monitoring.”

Many of the staff described this as a jamboree, particularly at a time when the commission is always cup at hand begging for operational funds from the government.

Part of the union’s letter reads: “It has come to our notice that pool officers recently posted to NAHCON have been placed in critical leadership positions ahead of seasoned NAHCON staff, who have dedicated years of service to the Hajj industry.

“A recent instance is the replacement of the Head of Policy and Research, a NAHCON staff, with an officer from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), despite the absence of a vacancy.

To address this anomaly, the union has urged the executive council and board members to immediately withdraw all pool officers in major divisions.

The union said, “Pool officers who have been placed in strategic positions ahead of NAHCON staff should be withdrawn to ensure fairness and recognition of institutional experience.

The union also said, “Pool officers should also not be allowed to participate in the pre-hajj visit or the 2025 hajj operations at the expense of NAHCON staff.”

Veteran federal civil servants said populating the commission with seconded staff would degrade the institutional memory of the Hajj organization. “NAHCON staff should be trained to rise from bottom to top, to preserve the institutional memory of the commission. But when you adopt a revolving door policy — where staff are deployed and redeployed after some years – the founding father’s idea of establishing the Hajj commission is defeated,” one of the founding fathers of NAHCON told this newspaper.

Other staff members who spoke anonymously for fear of a backlash expressed concern over the ongoing face-off between the NAHCON chairman and his board members and commissioners. “This is unprecedented and it dampens the morale of the workforce,” one of them said. The officials said the earlier the commission gets a competent and experienced person to bring back the staff confidence, the better.

The chairman, it was impeccably gathered, is allowing all these problems to fester, including watching his aides threatening the commission staff, because of his alleged closed relationship with the office of the Head of Service of the Federation and the Vice President’s office.

Some commission officials have called for the sacking of the chairman and the board, saying, “It is glaring that the Vice President can’t properly supervise the commission as expected because his office has been compromised.”

They urged EFCC to investigate the commission leadership over the alleged financial recklessness and indiscipline.