The Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, has called on the National Assembly to probe the N90 billion released for 2024 Hajj subsidy operation.
The governor made the call on Sunday in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, in which he described the performance of the National Hajj Commission as a “failure”.
“The N90 Billion subsidy paid by the Federal government for the Hajj operation, with some States including Niger paying about Billions of naira.
“There is a need for the National Assembly to probe the N90 billion the federal government released for the 2024 hajj. it is ridiculous that pilgrims were given only $400 to take care of themselves for about 40 days despite the payment of N8 Million by each pilgrim.
“The N90 billion would have made more impact if shared with states. The money is enough to run a Universal Basic Education budget for four years,” he said.
The governor, who took a large entourage of his cabinet including all the female Permanent Secretaries of ministries and departments in the state to Saudi Arabia for the Sallah celebration, disclosed that Niger lost six pilgrims.
According to him, two of the deaths were due to medical challenges, and four were as a result of the heatwave which killed over 1000 pilgrims.
He called for a review of the NAHCON law.
The governor also raised concern over the way NAHCON has turned itself into an operator of Hajj activities instead of being a regulatory body, recounting the hitches pilgrims encountered,
“Let the private sector drive Hajj operations, NAHCON should be a regulator at the centre. If NAHCON must exist, then it should strictly be a regulator. I am leading a committee of governors to the NGF, and from there we go to the NEC, I will propose this motion, and we will send a bill to the National Assembly where this issue of NAHCON would be reviewed.
“NAHCON is not helping matters. Our Federal Government is too big to be worried about Hajj operations, these are supposed to be Local Government issues and not even State issues. State Government should be able to organize pilgrimage and get Agents from the private sector who will do these things the best way as other Countries are doing it,” he further stated.
