2025 HAJJ: CSO LAUDS NAHCON FOR CHOOSING NEW SERVICE PROVIDER FOR NIGERIA PILGRIMS
The Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR), a faith-based civil society organization focused on monitoring and reporting Hajj and Umrah activities, has praised the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for selecting a new Saudi-based service provider for the 2025 Hajj season.
On Friday, January 17, NAHCON Chairman and CEO, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, signed a contract with Mashariq Al-Dhahabia Company, a decision widely regarded by stakeholders as a significant milestone.
In a press release issued by its National Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Muhammed, from Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and made available to journalists in Abuja, the IHR commended NAHCON’s move.
The organization highlighted that engaging a new service provider for Nigerian pilgrims would foster healthy competition among providers and ensure more efficient, qualitative, and satisfactory services.
IHR also noted that Nigerian pilgrims have long faced challenges stemming from subpar services, emphasizing that this decision marks a step toward resolving these recurring issues.
According to the CSO, ”We applaud the decision to pick another service provider that will cater for the needs of pilgrims within the Masha’ir areas during the five days of Hajj.”
Mohammed, who is currently in Saudi Arabia to monitor the pre-Hajj arrangements, revealed that available information showed that Mashariq Al Dhahabia was an experienced provider that had served top-rated Hajj countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia.
He added that the company ranked among the top five Hajj service providers by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
The company, according to him, served 249,706 pilgrims, which was the largest number of pilgrims during the 2023 Hajj, while it was awarded as the Best Hajj Service Provider during the 2022 Hajj by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
The IHR National Coordinator stated that the CSO further understood that NAHCON was planning to recruit another service provider to provide services for VIP pilgrims to avoid a repeat of previous years’ experience, adding that this “is also a desired step forward.”
The CSO, however, urged NAHCON to set a parameter of performance for the newly selected service provider to serve as a baseline for determining continuous patronage.
It stated that such criteria should be based on pilgrims’ satisfaction and adherence to contractual terms.
