Travel agents under the umbrella of the Association of Hajj and Umura Operators of Nigeria have asked the National Hajj Commission to refund its members over N15bn trapped in the coffers of the commission without a justifiable explanation.
The association’s President, Abdullateef Ekundayo, made this known in a statement on Saturday in response to a publication by the NAHCON reading “with or without AHUON Arafat will hold.”
AHUON had recently asked its members to discontinue any preparation regarding the 2025 Hajj operations until NAHCON pays their monies trapped with them since the 2022 to 2024 Hajj operations.
Aside from these trapped funds, the association also has other lingering issues with the regulators.
Popular among AHUON’s queries to NAHCON was President Bola Tinubu’s N90bn bailout funds to the commission for the 2024 Hajj operations, a gesture AHUON claimed NAHCON excluded its members from without any explanations.
Meanwhile, NAHCON in its publication claimed to be in talks with the association, a claim Ekundayo dismissed in its entirety.
The president claimed that the commission owes AHUON members over N15bn but kept mute at the expense of the operators’ businesses.
Ekundayo said “NAHCON owes our members over N15bn. It was the practice of the Saudi government after each Hajj operation to refund money to Countries on three grounds. Number one, services paid by pilgrims but not rendered, number two services paid for but poorly rendered to the agreed standard, number three tent security deposits.
“Our members are owed all these categories of money from the 2022 Hajj to date by the commission. They confirmed in our meeting with them that they have received the sum of 20,000,000.SR (Twenty Million Saudi Riyals) of such refund from the Saudi authority since December last year, but they are yet to formally notify us to talk less of agreeing on the modalities of the refund payment.
“Even this 20,000,000.00.SR if not for the investigation EFCC conducted on the Commission, we wouldn’t have known that it has been paid since December 2023, we only got to know through media reports, before they confirmed it to us at our last meeting. What stopped them from calling the Tour Operators since December 2023 to come forward to claim their money? They kept quiet.
“Last Hajj operation NAHCON has received and warehoused over N2.7bn as caution deposit from our members. By our agreement with the Commission, the funds were to be released two weeks after the conclusion of the Hajj. NAHCON has refused to refund any of the companies that applied for it, instead, they are asking for more money as an increase to last year’s deposit.”
According to the AHUON president, the Saudi government, after each Hajj operation, refunds money to countries on three grounds, including services paid for by pilgrims but not rendered, services paid for but poorly rendered to the agreed standard and tent security deposits.