As part of his current visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Malam Jalal Ahmad Arabi, on Wednesday, assessed alternative service providers for Nigerian pilgrims in the Holy Land during this year’s Hajj exercise.
The assessment, according to a news release, signed by NAHCON Assistant Director, Public Affairs, Fatima Sanda Usara, was aimed at ensuring improvement in services to be provided for Nigerian pilgrims during the spiritual exercise.
She informed that Arabi visited other pilgrims’ Muttawif establishments, including Mashariq Mutawwif Establishment, with a view to studying the services they could provide for pilgrims.
“The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had created windows for countries to select Pilgrims’ Establishment Mutawwif Companies of their choice as a way of encouraging competition favourable to pilgrims,” Usara stated.
She further informed that Arabi had earlier consulted with the Saudi Deputy Minister of Hajj in charge of Umrah and Ziyara in Madinah, Dr Abdulrahman Bejawi, where the NAHCON boss sought commitment on issues concerning welfare of Nigerian pilgrims and safety of their property.
Malam Arabi, according to the release, equally accepted the Makkah Route project offered by the Saudi authorities presented by Dr Bejawi, adding that Nigeria was one of the seven countries that offered the services.
Usara stated that the Saudi deputy minister informed that over 30 countries had shown interest in this initiative.
She added that the NAHCON CEO signed agreements with General Car Syndicate, the United Agents Office as well as Adillah Establishment of Madinah.
In another development, Malam Arabi on Tuesday visited the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah, where he sought consolation for the existing relationship between NAHCOn and the bank.
He expressed gratitude to IDB Vice President, Operations, Dr Mansur Mukhtar, for the technical assistance given to NAHCON in 2019 which facilitated an understudy and establishment of the Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS) and the Hajj Institute of Nigeria.
The chairman then requested for engagement of Nigeria’s abundant skilled manpower such as veterinary doctors, manual labourers to offer services during Hajj, especially under Hadaya.
He equally requested IDB to open a market for Nigeria to export sacrificial animals, amongst others.
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