The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Sunday expressed disappointment in the alleged refusal of some State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards to allocate hajj slots to intending pilgrims who had enrolled for the Hajj Savings Scheme(HSS).
This is contained in a statement signed by the Deputy Director, Information and Publications, Mousa Ubandawaki.
According to the statement, the defaulting states are Kaduna, Gombe, Jigawa and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Deputy Director said “these states attributed their actions to NAHCON/Jaiz Bank’s purported failure to timely remit the funds to the respective state boards.
“We categorically state that such excuses are baseless and unfounded.
“It is pertinent to clarify that Jaiz Bank promptly remitted the HSS fares to the states well in advance of this year’s hajj. This was even before many state pilgrim boards remitted their payment,” he declared.
Mousa explained further that it was resolved during the commission’s consultations with officials of state pilgrims welfare boards and agencies that the allocation to pilgrims should be in the ratio of 60/40 percent to pilgrims under State Boards and the Hajj Savings Scheme subscribers.
“So, it is expected that the Kaduna State Muslim pilgrims welfare board should have reserved 40 percent which is 2000 of the allocation to the HSS.
Even at this, only 108 of the 2000 expected enrolled, via the HSS in Kaduna state out of the 6,255 allocated to them,” he said.
According to the Deputy Director some states had been doing everything to consistently undermine the Commission and the Scheme in many ways.
Mousa stated further that “while the Commission has continued to show patience and understanding with them, obvious of the fact that a new scheme or policy takes time before it bears positive fruits, unfortunately, this is not the case with some states who have continuously striven to defame and blackmail the Commission in their contempt for the board and some of its policies.
“Therefore, we want to emphasize that the information disseminated by the Kaduna State Pilgrims Board and some others is not only false but also malicious intended to vilify and blackmail the commission with a view to damaging its integrity.”
The Deputy Director thanked the numerous subscribers on the HSS for their faith and trust in the scheme and appealed to those who had been unjustly denied the opportunity by the various pilgrim boards to remain calm and abide by the law as the commission was working hard to deal appropriately with the issue and also “bring to book those who are bent on undermining our policies or involved in denying them the rights to participate in the religious rites of hajj.”
