By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The National Hajji Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has said that, it has begun strategy that would put an end to the illegal activities of hajj tour operators in the country so as to sanitise their operational works for effective and efficient service delivery to intending pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Head of Tour Operators of NAHCON, Alhaji Alidu Shutti disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.
Alhaji Shutti who led the delegation of NAHCON to the state to verify the license and documents being used by the hajj tour operators for Umrah and Hajji operations said that the commission was not happy with the series of reported fraudulent activities that had been perpetrated by some illegal hajj tour operators in the country during Umrah and Hajj operations.
He said that, the development has continued to bring a sort of embarrassment to the commission adding that, the perceived fraudulent activities of some of these illegal hajj tour operators had led to the denial of many intending pilgrims from performing hajj rites every year.
Alhaji Shutti stressed that, “In order to forestall such future occurrences, the NAHCON decided to set out strategy towards moving across the 36 states of the federation to pay a visit to the offices of the hajji tour operators so as to verify their license and documents.
“Apart from this, the commission would see how the hajj tour operators have been complying with the rules and regulations guiding their license issued to them by the commission”.
He noted further that, “the commission is determined to ensure a hitch free hajji operations for all the intending pilgrims that passed through all licensed tour operators in the country and would not allow any of the hajj tour operators to hinder the movement of all intending pilgrims to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform their Islamic rites” .
Shutti explained further that, the commission decided to go out from Abuja to assess the suitability of all the hajji tour operators and to fish out those that had been illegally operating on the name of the commission in the country.
He noted that, the delegation had visited all the hajji tour operators in the state pointed out that, the findings of the delegation would be communicated to the affected operators so as to enhance the effective and efficient performances of the affected operators.
The leader of the delegation who had earlier visited the state police command and Director of the state security service solicited the support of the two security agencies in the task ahead.
He also lauded the efforts of the two security agencies for their unalloyed support during the yearly hajji operation exercises at the Ilorin International Airport for commission in the state.
The state police commissioner, Mr. Olusola Amore advised the NAHCON to embark on public enlightenment program that would guide the intending hajj pilgrims on the best way to go about having successful hajj operation.
Mr Amore also urged NAHCON to encourage feedback from members of the public in order to ensure that their guidelines are being strictly followed.
