Alhaji Hassan told the company executives that there is an African proverb that says “if two brothers go into a room for a meeting and they come out laughing, they have not told themselves the truth.”
*Photo: Alhaji Hassan at the meeting*
By MIKAIL MUMUNI in Makkah
Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan
has told the Company of Mutawifs for Pilgrims from Africa Non-Arab Countries that the services they provided for Nigerian pilgrims at Mina during Hajj 2023 was not satisfactory.
*Participants at the meeting*
He spoke on Sunday, 2nd of July, 2023 when he led a delegation of NAHCON, representatives of State Pilgrims Welfare Broads and Tour Operators to a meeting with the Saudi service provider.
Alhaji Hassan told the company executives that there is an African proverb that says “if two brothers go into a room for a meeting and they come out laughing, they have not told themselves the truth.”
Consequently, he said the position of the Nigerian side at the meeting was that the service providers performed poorly, especially with regard to the feeding and tents for Nigerian pilgrims at Mina.
Mina is the tent city on the outskirts of Makkah where pilgrims are camped for five days while performing the Hajj rites to Arafat, Muzdalifah and the Jamaraat.
He said many Nigerian pilgrims have blamed NAHCON for the poor services, whereas the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj had placed the responsibilities for the provision of food and tent accommodation at Mina on the shoulders of the Mutawwif Company to the exclusion of the Commission.
According to him, the same tent space used for the 2022 Hajj of about 43,000 pilgrims, was the same tent Nigeria used for 95,000 pilgrims for this year’s hajj.
“In view of the inadequate tent space, many pilgrims who looked towards an enjoyable Hajj had to find themselves under the sun for days.
“And they had nowhere to go but remain under the sun. Many didn’t know that the best we can do as a Hajj mission is only to complain. We had no power or control over the issue.
“We were just helpless and this is not a good one for the pilgrims who have looked towards an enjoyable Hajj.”
“NAHCON was helpless on the issues of the tent space and feeding. We had no control and management but we take the blame because the pilgrims know us they don’t know you.
“They believed we were responsible, yet we are helpless. We also went through the pain. Some of our places were turned like a refuse dump and at times some of our toilets lacked water.”
Alhaji Hassan not only asked for refund for the days meals were not provided for the different state pilgrims, he equally made a case that provision of feeding should revert to Nigerian Hajj authorities as was the case in the past.
He also demanded that henceforth, the Mutawifs should give NAHCON a minimum of one month to inspect the quality and adequacy of the number of tents provided rather than just a few days as presently applicable.
Representatives of the state pilgrims welfare boards, agencies and commissions, Alhaji Salihu Abubakar, Executive Secretary of Adamawa Pilgrims Commission and Alhaji Yahaya Sulayman Nasidi of the tour operators spoke to support all the problems the NAHCON Chairman outlined.
Responding to the Nigerian complaints, the Vice Chairman of the Company of Mutawwif, Bader Ali Bafakeek promised to look into the complaints and demands by NAHCON and other Nigerian stakeholders at the meeting, for continous mutually beneficial relationship and in the overall interest of the Nigerian pilgrims.
