The last is yet to be heard on the ongoing cold “war” between the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and tour operators, under the aegis of Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators in Nigeria (AHOUN), as the association revealed that the Hajj body is owing its members over N15 billion refunds.
This is even as the umbrella body of your operators wondered why NAHCON is so perturbed about the preparation of the 20,000 out of the 95,000 slots allocated to Nigeria for the 2025 Hajj as against the 75,000 of the state pilgrims welfare boards.
These are contained in a statement issued today and signed by AHOUN president, Alhaji AbdulLateef Ekundayo Yusuf and made available to Tribune Online.
According to Yusuf, the refunds NAHCON owed AHOUN members included the refund of money made by Saudi Arabian government for services paid for by pilgrims and not rendered, services paid for but poorly rendered, and tent security deposits, adding that the refunds dated back to 2022 Hajj.
He stated that the Hajj commission received the sum of SR 20 million in such refund from the Saudi government since December 2023 but did not formally inform tour operators, adding that the association would not have known of the refund from the Saudis if not for the probe of the commission by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“NAHCON owes our members over N15 Billion. It was the practice of the Saudi government after each Hajj operation to refund money to countries on three grounds. Number one, services paid by pilgrims but not rendered, number two services paid for but poorly rendered to the agreed standard, number three tent security deposits.
“Our members are owed all these categories of money from 2022 Hajj to date by the commission. They (NAHCON) confirmed in our meeting with them that they have received the sum of 20,000,000.SR (Twenty Million Saudi Riyals) of such refund from the Saudi authority since December last year, but they are yet to formally notify us talk less of agreeing on the modalities of the refund payment.
“Even this 20,000,000.00.SR if not for the investigation EFCC conducted on the Commission, we wouldn’t have known that it has been paid since December, 2023, we only got to know through media reports, before they now confirmed to us at our last meeting. What stopped them from calling the Tour Operators since December 2023 to come forward to claim their money? They kept quiet,” Alhaji Yusuf stated.
He further disclosed that NAHCON received and warehoused over N2.7 billion as caution deposits for the 2023 Hajj operation from AHOUN members and had yet to refund tour operators contrary to agreement.
“NAHCON has received and warehoused over N2.7billion as caution deposit from our members. By our agreement with the Commission, the funds was to be released two weeks after the conclusion of the Hajj.
“NAHCON has refused to refund any of the companies that applied for it, instead they are asking for more money as increase to the last year’s deposit.
“From the year 2004 to date the Commission has attested to have held our members funds through several engagements example unused visa, excess payments, Umrah deposit, etc., and have not shown any sign of refunding such funds.
“In fact, our agreement with the Commission to publish the list of the companies under this category since last year have not been met. It is worth noting that many of our members have passed on waiting for these refunds,” the AHOUN president stated.
He added that for many years now some tour operators have had millions of Saudi Riyals balances in their Saudi accounts (IBAN), which they can’t access.
According to him, “For over three years now we have engaged the Commission to facilitate the release of those funds to our members, but it refuses to do anything about the issue.
“Apart from the above refund issues, we requested the Commission to accept bank guarantee which their Acts permits, in place of cash deposit considering the perennial challenges we have been facing with refund.
“It is worth noting that our members receive nothing as income from the amount we deposit annually.”
He alleged that NAHCON has continually taken from the 20,000 slots allocated to your operators and issued same to other government agencies, stating that this disrupts their programme, especially the Tent A (VIP tent) services in Muna and Arafat.
He further alleged that since 2015, NAHCON has not only taken ownership of the tour operators’ share of one percent of the total slots for each country allocated by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah as official visa for operators to facilitate their smooth movement in Saudi Arabia to serve the pilgrims but also appropriate same as it wishes.
While stating that AHOUN members are not in any way denying NAHCON’s right as regulator to go on with 2025 Hajj preparation, Yusuf called on the commission to address issues instead of passing judgment on who performs Hajj 2025 and who will not perform.
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