TheCable

The Kaduna pilgrims agency says the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) failed to process visas for 108 of the state’s hajj savings scheme (HSS).

In a statement on Monday, Yusuf Arrigasiyyu, Kaduna pilgrims’ executive secretary, said the agency had provided the state’s intended pilgrims under HSS with necessary hajj material, but NAHCON failed in its responsibility of issuing visas.

On Sunday, Mousa Ubandawaki, NAHCON’s assistant director of information and publications, accused the pilgrims’ agencies of Kaduna, Gombe, Jigawa and Abuja of refusing to allocate slots to HSS subscribers in their states.

HSS is a programme that assists low-income earners and the general public to save, with a bid to meeting their goal of going on hajj.

Ubandawaki added that each pilgrim agency is expected to reserve 40 percent of its allocated seats to HSS subscribers in the state. He accused the Kaduna pilgrim agency of flouting the agreed ratio.

Reacting to the claims, Arrigasiyyu said that NAHCON had initially given Kaduna 6,487 slots for the 2023 pilgrimage, and the pilgrim agency remitted over N15 billion to the NAHCON/CBN account before the expiration of the deadline.

Arrigasiyyu revealed that Kaduna’s slot was cut by 250 seats, and all moves to address the situation with NAHCON proved abortive.

He added that the circumstance forced him to prioritise intending pilgrims who applied through the agency over HSS subscribers in the state.

“All of a sudden, NAHCON sent us a letter reducing our allocation by 700 without giving any reason. I went to NAHCON head office in Abuja and met with the National Chairman and complained,” the executive secretary said.

“The Chairman was furious and told me that he had earlier instructed that Kaduna state’s allocation shouldn’t be tampered with because we are forthcoming. He said that the letter was written without his knowledge.

“The Chairman and I went to the office of Director of Planning, Alhaji Momoh Suleiman, where he demanded to know who authorised them to reduce Kaduna state’s slot by 700.

“He then directed that our 700 slots be returned to us immediately. I demanded a letter to that effect from Momoh, but he assured me that will be sent to me. So, I returned to Kaduna.

“To my utter surprise, I received a letter returning only 450 slots to Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency, out of the 700 that were taken away by NAHCON.

“When I didn’t get any positive response from the Commission, I took steps to avert what happened last year from recurring, when 93 of our intending pilgrims were denied visas.

“So, I directed my ICT department to give priority to intending pilgrims who paid through Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency. Out of the 6,222 intending pilgrims, only 48 have not got visas.

“We have done everything within our capacity for the 108 intending pilgrims under the Hajj Savings Scheme. It is the responsibility of NAHCON to issue them with visas.”