NAHCON Chairman, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)
placed a paid advertorial on page 35 of LEADERSHIP Friday, January 11,
2013, exactly a week ago, informing ‘pilgrims who participated in Hajj or Umrah
in the year 2012 that it will commence the renewal and issuance of Hajj and
Umrah licenses to Tour Operators and general preparations for Hajj and Umrah
for 2013.’ Therefore, NAHCON ‘requests any pilgrim with complaints against
anybody or institution that rendered services during Hajj or Umrah in the year
2012, to forward same to the Commission not later than 2 weeks from the date of
this publication. The complaints will assist the Commission in planning for the
2013 Umrah and Hajj activities and in arriving at decisions of renewing the
licenses of companies or otherwise.’
Let me start by commending NAHCON for early preparations of
this year’s Hajj operations. Everybody should include the Commission in their du’aa
for Allah to bless its efforts in sanitising the Hajj and Umrah industry in
Nigeria. Things are getting better every year; we are at the verge of entering
the Promised Land.
Viewed through the lens of a tour operator, that advertorial
by NAHCON was one-sided, confined to Hajj and Umrah tour operators, and
excluded other stakeholders, as well as service providers in Hajj operations,
like state pilgrims’ boards and agencies, airline operators, etc. It is indeed
apparent that NAHCON was calling on anybody with complaint against any tour
operator ‘that rendered services during Hajj or Umrah in the year 2012, to
forward same…’ as that ‘will assist the Commission in … arriving at decisions
of renewing the licenses of companies or otherwise.’ In other words, operation
licenses of companies found guilty of defrauding pilgrims shall not be renewed.
Any Hajj and Umrah tour operator worth their salt will not
have any problem with this advertorial; it is unlikely that clients will have
any genuine complaints against any operator that plays strictly by the rules.
Pilgrims who participated in Hajj or Umrah in 2012 have at least up to next
Friday, in line with NAHCON’s time-limit, within which to present their written
complaint against any of us. I humbly entreat those pilgrims served by my
company, for example, to help us serve them better by complying with NAHCON’s
request of putting forward a formal complaint, if there are any, against us for
necessary sanction where we are found guilty by the Commission! This is very
good for the industry, and all genuine tour operators must assist NAHCON in
this regard!
We may be wrong in our perception of the Commission, but what
we see, as tour operators, is that NAHCON assumes, as attested to by this
advertorial, that Hajj operational lapses come mainly from tour operators,
while we only cater for 10, 000 out of 95, 000 Nigerian pilgrims. The state
pilgrims’ boards and agencies are responsible for 85, 000 pilgrims. This call
by NAHCON for written complaint should encompass those boards and agencies of
state that served the bulk of the pilgrims.
I was inclined to believe NAHCON meant everyone who rendered
service to pilgrims in 2012 when they wrote: “…requests any pilgrim with
complaints against anybody or institution that rendered services during Hajj or
Umrah in the year 2012, to forward same to the Commission…” However, when I
read the part that said the complaints “…will assist the Commission in …
arriving at decisions of renewing the licenses of companies or otherwise.” It
was clear they meant just tour operators.
If some Hajj tour operators are accused of giving less than
the due to their pilgrims, many of the state pilgrims’ boards are not immune
from such vile conduct. We heard of poor people who sold their cows, paid for
Hajj seats to some dubious state pilgrims’ officials, and ended up not
travelling for Hajj or even getting their money back.
Some tour operators, in the same vein, fail their pilgrims by
way of false presentation of services to be expected during Hajj, or by
collecting pilgrims’ money and disappearing into thin air. A witness narrated
the ordeal of some pilgrims in Kwara State in 2012. The intending pilgrims paid
to a tour operator who said he would get them visas for hajj in Ghana as the
visas were not forthcoming in Nigeria. He transported everyone by road to Ghana
where he abandoned them and returned to Nigeria. Their money, time and dignity
had suffered at the hands of this rogue. The hapless people rented some
‘luxurious’ buses back to Ilorin and complained to the Emir who took action by
assuring them he would investigate while he paid back their expenses.
Some state pilgrims’ boards do no better. But for the effort
of the current crop of management of NAHCON, Nigerian state pilgrims were
hitherto subjected to the worse in terms of accommodation and other logistics
in Hajj; yes things are much better now, I must say, but there are rooms for
improvement. The point is those pilgrims who suffered at the hands of state
pilgrims’ arrangement should form part of those to complain to NAHCON for
justice and appropriate sanction against the erring state.
The tour operators will do well to cooperate with NAHCON in
weeding out bad elements from our midst and raising the standard of our
services to pilgrims, by doing the right thing according to conditions
enshrined in our licenses, passing the right information to the Commission on
what assistance we desire in relation to Saudi service providers, and being
accountable to Allah with respect to whatever we do to His servants fulfilling
the fifth pillar of His religion.
NAHCON should find out from us how pilgrims are being treated
by Saudi hotels; in case we desire their intervention at any point. Are our
pilgrims getting what they paid for at Minaa and Arafah from the Mu’assasah?
Have they been given enough mattresses, blankets, pillows, etc.? Is the food adequate?
When we take money to the Mu’assasah to make payment for this service, are we
treated with respect or with disdain? NAHCON may not know all these until we
inform them. We should not suffer in silence; if we have issues with the
Mu’assasah in which our pilgrims are short-changed we should help the
Commission help us; they have to know.
My company, for instance, was given only 50 Hajj seats last
year. We requested for more; we were given additional 25. We vowed not to buy
visas from unserious colleagues who live on Hajj visa trafficking. We prayed
Allah to put barakah in the 75 seats. We told our teeming clients that
we could not serve all of them due to the limited number of our allocation;
that they could travel through other arrangements or be patient until some
other time in the future when we can have them on board. If you are not able to
make Hajj this year, wait for another; don’t seek for Hajj visa by all means
necessary. Some tour operators will go to all length even to another country,
issuing foreign passports with Hajj or Umrah visas to Nigerians to travel to
Saudi Arabia, without minding what will happen to such pilgrims in the event of
death or other calamities. If you go into Saudia with a Moroccan, Malian or Nigerien
passport, how will it be possible for the Nigerian Hajj authorities to help you
or even prove that you are a Nigerian? We refused to do that! Besides, is anyone
looking at what they send forth to the Lord of the Worlds? Is money earned in
this way halaal for them to spend or are they eating the fire of Hell in
their bellies?
We did our best with 75 pilgrims and left the rest with
Allah. Our clients saw our predicament; they kept praying for us during the
Hajj, at every point of the operation. Allah accepted their du’aa, blessed our
effort and made us witness His Bounty even more than when we had 316 pilgrims!
It is high time NAHCON started the dual use of stick and
carrot in its attempt to rid the Hajj and Umrah industry of bad eggs. Let
pilgrims complain to NAHCON about poor services they got from state boards and
tour operators, but let there be another side of the coin. NAHCON would do well
to encourage pilgrims to come forward and commend state pilgrims’ boards,
agencies or Hajj tour operators that gave them excellent services during Hajj
or Umrah operations. NAHCON’s tradition of sending inspection teams to assess
and ascertain the extent of services offered pilgrims should be continued with
additional brief of coming up with the best state or company in giving the
pilgrims value for their money in all stages of the Hajj exercise – from
movement out of Nigeria until the timely return to Nigeria. I suggest that the terms
of reference of NAHCON inspection team should include, among others, how
information is passed to the pilgrims on the cost and type of services
available in the company’s brochure. Here, the team should look out for lazy
Hajj tour operators who cannot think for themselves, but are in the habit of plagiarising
the contents of the brochures of serious companies. There should be sanctions
for intellectual theft especially in an industry with religious background like
Hajj. Also, the team could attend Hajj induction courses that are organised
before pilgrims’ departures, and see how each company prepares its hajjis for
what to expect and how to behave during the pilgrimage. Other areas of interest
to the team should be arrival arrangement which involves meet and greet at
Madinah or Jeddah airports, transportation to places of accommodation,
proximity of hotel or pilgrims’ apartment to Haram according to what was
advertised to the pilgrims, as well as the standard of their food. Minaa and
Arafah accommodation is another area that NAHCON team should pay more attention,
as a different service provider, the Mu’assasah is in charge of the
tents, feeding, etc.
NAHCON could now use the report of its inspection team and
pilgrims’ complaints or commendation to come up with names of the companies and
states’ boards that should be given either the stick or the carrot. In the case
of the former it could be in the form of cancellation of license or reduction
in the number of Hajj seats allocation. While the latter could be called NAHCON
best Hajj tour operator award, or best state in Hajj operations award of the
year, to be presented to the recipients in a well-publicised banquet under the
chairmanship of His Eminence, the Sultan and Permanent Ameerul Hajj of Nigeria,
Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar.
Every year, His Eminence, the Sultan moves around the VIP
tents in ‘Arafah. This is good, but he should add to that visits to the A, B
and C tents in Minaa and ‘Arafah; he should interact more with the pilgrims and
ask about their welfare. I have the honour of welcoming His Eminence to our
tents in ‘Arafah every year but I humbly request him to go farther. That way,
he would be more in line with the ways of the Abubakrs and ‘Umars of this deen,
who bore the title of Ameerul Mu’mineen before him and it would endear him
to more people not to mention the fact that he is the Ameerul Hajj.
One thing is certain; we shall account for all these one Day.
We shall be asked what led us to such practices; the answers we will give
should be forming in our minds from now. Would we be able to argue our way out
of it as we often did while we were on earth; justifying our actions, no matter
how wrong? Would I have any excuse for short-changing the guests of the Most
Exalted? I don’t think so; what about you?
