Over five million demand for hajj seats annually – Muhammed

IBRAHIM-MUHAMMADIbrahim Muhammed is the National Coordinator of Independent Hajj Reporters of Nigeria, a civil society organization that monitors and reports hajj activities in the country. In this interview with USMAN IBN A. LAPAI, he condemns the calls for the scrapping of pilgrims’ boards even as he suggests ways of improving hajj operation
Proposed scrapping of pilgrims boards by confab

First, Hajj as a fourth pillar of Islam, is an act of worship made incumbent upon all adult Muslims of sound mind with the necessary physical capacity and financial capability by Almighty Allah. Because of this, successive Nigeria governments have accepted it as an obligation to Nigerian Muslims to ensure that they perform this religious obligation successfully. This is viewed as manifestation of adherence to the principles of secularism enshrined in Nigeria constitution. These principles bring a deep respect for all the religions practiced by Nigerians and inculcate a commitment to provide all necessary assistance to enable Nigerians fulfill their religious obligations in peace and in comfort. It was in this context that government established pilgrims’ commissions for both Muslim and Christians.
Therefore, when citizens of one country travel to another as in the case of hajj, there are issues of security, health and international diplomatic relations involved that cannot be entrusted in the hands of private or individuals group only. In the case of Hajj, we should also know that Saudi Arabia hajj authority does not recognize or deal with individuals or states. National Hajj Commission of Nigeria is the only recognized statutory body for Nigerian pilgrims on behalf of Nigerian government.

Again, one of the fundamental responsibilities of government is security and welfare of its citizens. Are we now saying that government should turn its back to millions of its citizens going to pilgrimage? Have they ceased to be Nigerians simply because they went for pilgrimage? If you say that state pilgrims board should be scrapped, what happened to other similar government agencies established to manage the welfare of Nigerians going to other countries for one purpose or the other? In India, there is Hajj Committee of India formed under Hajj Committee Act 2002 that is saddled with the responsibility for making arrangements for the pilgrimage of Muslims of India for Hajj. Remember that India is a pluralistic society which is home to more than 147 Million Muslims, the second largest Muslims community in the world. Even in Britain with Muslims population of 4.4 million, they created Council of British Hajjis whose duty is to work for British Overseas Hajj and Umrah Travelers. Ghana is on the verge of creating a National Hajj body. You are now saying that Nigeria with Muslims accounting for more than half of its population is talking of scrapping its pilgrims’ boards.

Stopping government’s funding of pilgrims

I don’t know whether the right ‘word’ to use is ‘funding’ because Hajj exercise is not being funded by governments as people are erroneously made to believe. If you say government is subsidizing hajj exercise, I will agree that to some extent, government is subsiding hajj operations. Those saying that government should wash-off its hands from hajj exercise need to understand that it is a matter of constitutional responsibility on the part of government and not a handout per say. For instance, each pilgrim pays a minimum of N650, 000:00 as hajj seat package that covers transportations, accommodations, luggage handlings and even service charges during hajj.
You can see that it is a great misconception to say that government is ‘funding’ hajj.
If the federal government can float N3billion special grant to Nollywood with a promise to invest another N75bllion to an entertainment industry, then no amount of money is too much to assist pilgrims who are going to obey their Lord and pray for the country.

Challenges of hajj operations

We cannot enumerate the challenges of hajj operation without reflecting on evolutions of hajj administrative institutions in the country. I don’t want to take a long walk back to pre-colonial or post colonial era because of time and space. In 1975, Nigeria Pilgrims Board was established via Decree No 16 of 1975 to address challenges that emanated from Travel Agencies Edict of 1968. Little was achieved then because there was no definite policy in place. Likewise, Nigeria Pilgrims Commission of 1989, again, Directorate of Pilgrims Affairs (DPA) was created in 1991 and it was domiciled under Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Though they made a significant progress in terms of establishing standard but it failed to address key operational challenges. The coming of NAHCON in 2006 redefines hajj operation to some extent. As I said earlier, the challenges are not about hajj institutions, rather there is need to formulate realistic policies that can translate to a hitch free hajj exercise.
Let me give you a comparative analysis of what I am talking about. I will pick two areas of hajj to illustrate my points. Airlift of pilgrims which falls under pilgrims’ movement generally and the sales and distribution of hajj seats.

Since last year, hajj seats allocation to Nigeria has been reduced from 90, 000 to 76,000 because of the ongoing expansion project in the Holy Mosque. The seats are thereafter distributed to states for onwards sales to pilgrims. Going by our research, there are over five million demands for hajj seat every year. To manage the huge shortfall, there should be a shift in hajj seats policy.
Therefore, NAHCON should adopt a three year hajj rolling plan. By then, those who want to perform hajj in three years time will have to book for the seats this year. They can restructure the Hajj saving scheme already in place to cover three years in conjunction with state pilgrims boards and financial institutions. By the time you adopt such policy, securing of accommodation, documentations and other administrative activities that usually take place within a year will have a three year span. It will also address hajj seats racketeering associated with yearly sales of hajj seats.

On the airlift of pilgrims, NAHCON is responsible for selecting, screening and appointing airlines to airlift pilgrims. NAHCON sets up committee that comprises of all stakeholders to screen and select airlines to airlift pilgrims. After selection, their names will now be sent to state pilgrims’ boards to choose from. This is one policy of hajj I found very amusing. How can airlines to be the ones that will go and lobby for passengers from state pilgrims’ board when it was NAHCON that screens, appoints, and enters into operational contract with such airlines on behalf of pilgrims?
Allowing airlines to lobby for passengers has created a situation where all parties involved focus only on ‘what is in for me’ instead of efficient service to pilgrims. It creates rooms for kick backs and tradeoffs – which is why some airlines treat pilgrims with contempt. I am yet to understand this logic.

We have a case where an airline that passed the screening did not have a single passenger. Saudi Arabia Airline, Ethiopia Air at one time or the other applied and were selected to airlift Nigerian pilgrims but they could not get a pilgrim from a single states due to obvious reasons. It is like a relationship of leopard, goat and a leaf. Leopard’s eye is on the goat while the goat’s eye is on the leaf. Some corrupt hajj officials’ eyes are on what they can extract from the airliners while airliners’ eyes are on how to exploit pilgrims in terms of high charges and poor services. A predatory like cycle you might say.
Secondly, there are 12 pilgrims departing points in the country. Assuming for example, Meridian Airline got 1, 500 passengers in Kano, 800 in Port Harcourt, 2, 000 in Bauchi or 2, 500 in Maiduguri. That means that they have to deploy ground staff, security and other logistics to all these centers which is an additional cost to be transferred to pilgrims’ charges. This policy was also responsible for the delay in pilgrims’ luggage’s and other unethical behaviors on the part of airlines.

The way forward

To me, NAHCON should be allowed to allocate pilgrims to air carriers based on criteria that will be fair to all. Factors like numbers of aircraft in its fleet, previous record of compliance with airlift schedules and capacity to cope on emergency situations, should count. One airline will operate in Katsina and Kano with another one ferrying pilgrims from South west; another air carrier will be responsible to airlift pilgrims from Niger, Abuja and Kogi state. Such arrangement will create a healthy competition among air carriers.
For example, during 2013 Hajj exercise, Max Air airlifts 40, 527 pilgrims while Kabo come closer with 15, 736 pilgrims. Med view conveyed 5, 200 pilgrims, Meridian ferried 3, 500 pilgrims. This statistic excludes pilgrims who travel through private tour operators. You can see the manifesting disparity as a result of lobby. Though, Max Air has advantages over others in terms of number of aircrafts in its fleet, you can see that if the situation is allowed to continue, other airlines might be forced out of business in near future which may not augur well for hajj operation.

Since 2011 however, NAHCON made some progress in the areas of streamlining airlift. Nigerian pilgrims are now flown to Medina Airport; which has eliminated the difficulties encountered by pilgrims who previously had to land at KAIA in Jeddah before proceeding to Medina with pilgrims’ buses. They have unified pilgrims’ reception and established national reception team that welcomes all Nigerian pilgrims in Jeddah. Prior to this, each state do station its own team in Jeddah to welcome their pilgrims. Now, Pilgrims are not allowed to come to Jeddah Airport unless their flight is confirmed by operation department of NAHCON six hours earlier. Such policy has eliminated pilgrims spending 3-4 days at the Airport waiting for flight. NAHCON has also established Airline Control Room with advanced tracking system. As such, it is now difficult for airliners to divert their plane to ferry another country’s pilgrims like they used to do before. These are few areas I think NAHCON made progress, but they need to work on the possibility of reducing the number of days pilgrims spend in Saudi Arabia.

Thirdly, we want government to establish Hajj training institutes to train Hajj administrators as a way of addressing the perpetual challenges associated with Hajj operation in the country. Most of the Hajj administrators in the country have neither practical experience nor formal training on the fundamental principles of hajj administration thereby subjecting the welfare of pilgrims to trial by error.
Moreover, such institute will serve as an information (data) bank about Hajj and a comprehensive scientific reference source for different statistics, details, and facts to assist in planning utilities and services of the Hajj.