According to a source within the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), the federal government purportedly allocated N90 billion to subsidize the 2024 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Without this assistance, each intending pilgrim would have been required to contribute an additional N3.5 million to the initial fare of N4.9 million.
The source told the publication;
“The forex crisis has caused a lot of problems. That is why the Hajj Commission has asked intending pilgrims to pay the extra amount of N1.9 million each. The commission actually needed N230 billion to sort out the fare differential caused by the forex crisis.
“The N90 billion support which was provided by the government was announced in the presence of reporters during the inauguration of the board and management of the Hajj Commission which was held at the Office of the Vice Presidency on February 28, 2024. But they (reporters) were asked not to report it. That was why no newspaper carried the report. Or did you see it in any reports? If the intending pilgrims pay ₦1.9 million, it is then it can be balanced.”
He added that NAHCON had also contacted state governors “to subsidize the hajj fare for the intending pilgrims in their respective states. Kano has responded by subsiding it by N500,000 for each pilgrim.
“By the previous calculation, the N90 billion given by the federal government can only subsidize 19,000 intending pilgrims by ₦3.5 million. But by spreading it on 50,000 pilgrims, it reduces it to N1.9 million; meaning that the federal government has subsidized each pilgrim by ₦1.6 million before each intending pilgrim was asked to add the remaining N1.9 million.”
A top official at the Presidency also confirmed that the federal government “actually provided some financial support for the hajj exercise”. The official said;
“Of course, the federal government has offered support for the pilgrims because the pilgrims have been lamenting.
“Normally, any support that the government is giving to any faith, whether the Christian faith or the Muslim faith, the government does not like to announce it openly so that it will not appear as if the government is favoring on faith.”
