By Ibrahim Muhammed
Last week, the national hajj commission organize a two days National Hajj and umrah stakeholders conference with the theme: “Hajj Management in Nigeria: Honouring the past, treasuring the present and shaping the future” Th e event which was held at the National mosque in Abuja was chaired by His eminence, Th e Sultan of Sokoto, President General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Aff airs (NSCIA).
Th e pioneer Chairman of Nahcon who is the current minister of FCT, Mallam Muhammed Musa Bello served as the special guest of honour while Dr Usman Bugaje was the guest speaker. Th e events brought together Muslims intellectuals, academicians, ulamas and experts from aviation, management, fi nance economics and Islamic jurisprudence to appraise 10th year of existence of NAHCON and mapping the way forward. In his welcome address, Nahcon Chairman, Barr Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammed said that “this year stakeholders’ conference is unique because it is an event meant to appraise the past, and proff ers viable way forward for hajj exercise. While acknowledging some challenges, he also highlighted some notable achievement of the commission which includes the purchase of N2.4 Billion Metro Plaza to be use as permanent headquarter of NAHCON, Direct negotiation of Madina accommodation contracts.
Trimming of NAHCON zonal offi ces to fi ve to make it more eff ective and save costs. He also informs the gathering that the commission is on the verge of roiling out saving scheme and the establishment of hajj training institutes. In his opening remark, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alh Abubakar Sa’ad OFR ‘urges Muslims to always imbibe the virtue of honesty and truthfulness in their dealings. He called for the restoration of Amirul hajj team and urges paper presenters and discussants to expand their scope of discussion beyond what is stated in the programme of events for maximum benefi ts to Muslim ummah. Issues that dominated the discussion centered around the establishment of hajj training institutes towards professionalisation of hajj administration, creation of hajj saving scheme to facilitate gradual detachment from government funding, the desirability or otherwise of bring back ‘national Amirul hajj team, creating a national hajj policy, replication of Malaysia Tambug hajj operating system in Nigeria and emerging issues and the challenges of technology based solution in Hajj. Hajj in a trial by error mode Th e lead paper presenter, Dr Abdulwasiu Gabadeen of University of Abuja in his lecture titled ‘Professionalizing hajj management in Nigeria: the institutional framework’; said that
“Hajj is the fi fth pillar of Islam and the largest assembly of the Muslim Ummah globally with laid down principles in the Shariah as enshrined in Al-Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It has divine injunctions that cannot be subjected to any changes or manipulations such as the day of Arafat (9th of Dhul-Hijjah) but procedures for actualizing the activities of the day of Arafat can be subjected to high level of Flexibility, Adaptability and Stability (FAS)”. Th e diff erences, he said ‘is in the application of the divine injunction on Hajj and Umrah during the Prophetic era and the contemporary realities made it so mandatory to review the operations of Hajj from one century to another and thus professionalize its management’. He further canvassed for merit base appointment for hajj administrators.
“the management of Hajj can no longer be on trial and error-based, appointment or selection of pilgrims’ managers and offi cials can no longer be sentimental-based, screening and licensing of service providers should be competencybased and above all, the quest of harnessing values for money, time and energy invested on hajj and umrah business made it so urgent a matter for the industry to be managed by technocrats and professionals that has the clout, the conviction and the charisma to initiate positive changes and engage other stakeholders in the implementation of the new innovative practices within the operations of hajj and umrah in line with global best practices’.
The Joker Is In the Nahcon Act Th e Speaker, Dr Bugaje Usman who was acknowledged as one the brains behind the establishment of NAHCON; comprehensively analyse the pre NAHCON era, and analyse NAHCON establishment act 2006 with a submission that if hajj operation is to attain its desirable position, NAHCON needs to explore the abundant opportunities presented in the act. “It is in stipulating the functions of NAHCON in the act establishing it that a lot of the potential of NAHCON to continue the task of transformation and re-engineering societies lie. Out of the eleven functions enumerated six are routine and well known, each of the other fi ve functions present NAHCON with a huge opportunity to make an impact commensurate to the historical role of Hajj.
For example, function (d) “ensure the establishment and management of pilgrims camps and related facilities,” provide a huge opportunity to invest in low income, but effi cient accommodation chain which can off season be a great source of income, which can create an investment diversifi cation and a rejuvenation of the local economy.” Dr Bugaje then challenges NAHCON to work hard for the attainments of those noble objectives“ He opined that “the fi rst ten years has been a period of establishing the offi ce and populating it with personnel. Th e actual work that NAHCON has been established to perform has not yet began.” He called for transformation of the social economic and cultural environment of hajj not for the benefi t of individual alone but for the entire Mirroring the Past Professor Badmus dean in University of Ilorin and a pioneer commissioner in charge of operation in Nahcon lectured “listed out some achievement recorded by Nahcon since its creation”: Major shift to E-Passport with attendant benefi ts, Elimination of long waiting at Jeddah Airport, Reform of the process of appointment of medical team, Improvement of transport facilities in Mashair, Completion of Nigerian bound fl ights ahead of the Saudi deadline, Ensuring that pilgrims fl y into Madina before cArafat, Ensuring that pilgrims are accommodated within Markaziyyah in Madina, Uniform exchange rate for the Board and Tour operators’ pilgrims, Elimination of the third party involvement in accommodation arrangement, Strengthening of the Nahcon ICT unit for full computerization of Hajj operation, Introduction of National Medical Team to cut cost, Introduction of benchmark for the assessment of Hajj/Umrah operators services. He therefore called on government to abolish airport fee, parking fee landing fee so as to reduce air fare paid by Nigerian pilgrims.”
Hajj Saving Scheme (HSS) Dr Bashir Muhammed Bugaje of Crystal associate who delivered paper on “Hajj saving scheme and fi nancial autonomy on hajj management” harps on benefi t of having a hajj saving scheme “According to him “undertaking Hajj requires a lot of fi nancial resources and the current socio-economic challenges have made it diffi cult for most Nigerians to raise funds/fi nance at a go (en bloc) towards performing Hajj. Current practice of fi nancing Hajj is considered skewed in favour of the rich / well to do” To creates a fl exible mode of payment for hajj seat that will inturn yields positive networks eff ects, he advocates for “Hajj Saving Scheme which can yield/returns to NAHCON is particularly important given the current economic recession and its impact on Government’s ability to fully shoulder its responsibilities.
Such income could supplement or even substitute some current sources of funding, Funds generated from HSS could be invested in Halal/Shariah complaint windows to generate returns/ yield which could benefi t all stakeholders, particularly the savers. Th eir savings could be grown from these returns/bonuses”. What Malaysia can do…. For example, Malaysia with less than 16million Muslims were able to creates a robust hajj saving scheme called Tambug Hajj. As at 2016, Tambug Hajj has the fl owing investment profi le: Owned over 200, 000 acres of palm oil plantation employing 580, 000 workers in 12 factories, Had controlling equity ownership of 2 very successful Islamic banks in Malaysia, Its construction subsidiary is among the top league construction companies in Malaysia and currently involved in a $3Billion construction project, Had majority stake in one of the most successful IT companies in Malaysia, It was into tourism (both domestic and international), Had equity investments in various successful organizations via various IPOs, and Had investments in international funds like IDB infrastructure funds and others. Justifi ably, the Hajj Savings Scheme in Malaysia (Tabung Hajj) consistently distributes bonuses to savers and good returns to its equity holders.
He opined that what Malaysia can do, Nahcon should be able to do better. Legal Barrier to HSS On the possible legal constraints that may will hinder the establishment of Hajj saving scheme, Dr Bashir stated that” Sect 7 of NAHCON Establishment Act 2006 empowers the commission to establish, supervise and regulate a system of Hajj savings scheme to be operated by the Pilgrims Welfare Board of each state and FCT for interested intending pilgrims A Hajj savings scheme would entail the collection of deposits from various intending pilgrims towards meeting the cost of performing Hajj.” He however noted that “this is clearly a fi nancial service which falls under the regulatory purview/mandate of the Central Bank as derived from the 1958 Act of Parliament, as amended in 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2007.
Th e Act charges the Bank with the overall control and administration of the monetary and fi nancial sector policies of the Federal Government including the power to license, regulate and supervise banks and other deposit taking fi nancial institutions in Nigeria.” To cross the likely legal hurdle, he suggests that NAHCON should collaborate with Jaiz Bank to runs the Hajj saving scheme. Jaiz Bank Alternative For example,” JAIZ could provide its existing platform to introduce, operate and manage a Hajj savings scheme on behalf of NAHCON and SPWBs.
Th e bank’s branch network and its local correspondent bank (UBA) as well as its IT platform could be used and made available for potential savers, Th e offi ces of SPWBs could also be used as collection centres, NAHCON could monitor all the activities/processes on the database of the bank from their offi ces, Funds generated could be invested in Shariah compliant business/investment windows to generate profi t which can be shared between the savers, SPWBs, NAHCON and the Bank on pre-agreed ratio” Pay As You Go Another way of generating revenue for the benefi t of Muslim ummah is to surcharge non-fi rst timers pilgrims. According to Dr Bashir, “Hajj/pilgrimage is obligatory for all Muslims who have met some conditions at least once in their life time. As soon as a person performs Hajj once, any repeat performance is no longer obligatory but is generally considered as Sunna. In fact, some countries have set a minimum time frame to qualify a person to perform Hajj again after the obligatory one. For example in Saudi Arabia, the minimum time frame is 5 years/. Th is should be adopted in Nigeria.” Th ose who want to perform hajj for the second or third time could as well be able to aff ord to pay, N20, 000 or N30, 000 surcharges.. Afterall, Saudi Arabia government recently imposed payment of SR2, 000 for pilgrims who want to perform Umrah for second or third time.
Nigeria can be considered as a central server of seminars and conferences. However, when it comes to implementation of those beautiful blueprints that emanated from those talkshops, the result is always abysmal. Just like soup ingredients brought together for the purpose of cooking for pilgrims, the conference gave birth to fantastic ideas, comprehensive and compelling statistics and comparative analysis with global best practices. However, the end results lies on how NAHCON and other legally empowered institutions and hajj stakeholders are able to work the talk. Finally, and as noted by one of the speaker, “I worry if this exercise is truly aimed at evaluating the journey so far or it is only to fi t a routine, a ten-year anniversary; money budgeted spent and reports written and put on the shelf, end of story”. Th at is the challenge to the current leadership of NAHCON. Ibrahim Muhammed National Coordinator Independent Hajj Reporters 08037024356
