Vice President Kashim Shettima has cautioned the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), Prof. Abdullahi Saleh-Usman, against running the commission like a sole administrator.
The warning came in a March 17, 2025 letter (Ref: SH/OVP/DCOS/NAHCON) titled โRe-Deliberate Exclusion from Oversight Functions.โ
Shettimaโs rebuke followed allegations of procurement violations, misconduct, sidelining board members, and unauthorized appointments.
Eight NAHCON board members had earlier petitioned the VP over the chairmanโs alleged abuses.
In a response signed by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Sen. Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, Shettima criticized Saleh-Usman for bypassing the board via unauthorized committees, violating NAHCONโs governing act.
โThe act does not envisage a sole administrator role and each member has a responsibility to the zone or entity he or she represents especially with regards all decisions relating to pilgrimsโ welfare”.
Their letter states that they raised these issues at a meeting on February 4th 2025 where the chairman acknowledged and apologised for the lapses but apparently did nothing to address them going forward.
โAccordingly, His Excellency the Vice President has asked that your attention be drawn to the provisions of the NAHCON act especially the supplementary provisions governing the proceedings of the commission where all reference to the powers and regulatory responsibility of the commission refer to it as a whole,โ he said.
He urged the chairman to ensure that the members of the commission are given their due as envisaged by the NAHCON act so that they are not rendered redundant and to ensure that all major decisions of the commission are in compliance with the law.
Shettima cautions against recruiting former, external staff
Meanwhile, in another letter titled, โRe: Request for Special Waiver to Appoint 3 Retired Officers on Contract,โ signed by Hadejia, the vice president warned NAHCONโs chairman from rehiring former or external staff members.
The letter read: โHis Excellency the Vice President has expressed a strong objection to rehiring former staff of the commission on contract basis or engaging external civil servants to the detriment of your staff that are assigned the roles and responsibilities they are employed to perform. Doing so will engender redundancy and create unnecessary discord and rancour within NAHCOMโs ranks.โ
The NAHCON chairman was, โtherefore advised to reverse any such engagements and instruct your Human Resources unit to do a proper mandate and capability assessment of your workforce so you can reassign roles and responsibilities or build up capacities where necessary.โ
โChairman breaching protocolโ
The office of the vice president also warned the NAHCON chairman against breaching State House protocol in submitting official communications to the vice president.
The letter read: โI refer to your letter ref: NAHCON/ Al/17/XI/645, dated 11th February 2025, but received in my office on 17th of March due to a breach in the OVP correspondence protocol.
โHand carrying official correspondence and passing, same to individual personnel, is a flagrant breach of State House external mail protocol and will not be tolerated.โ
Board membersโ petition
The six-page petition, dated March 13, 2025 and titled, โDeliberate Exclusion from the Oversight Functions,โ was said to have been received in the vice presidentโs office on March 14, 2025 and sent to the NAHCON chairmanโs office the same day.
The board members said though Section 4(1) of the NAHCON Establishment Act, 2006, gives details of all the basic functions of the commission, the commissioners had not been sufficiently carried along in most of its functions as outlined in the section under reference.
The petition, sighted by Daily Trust, is coming just a few weeks after NAHCONโs staff union alleged poor welfare; an allegation the commission debunked.
The petition to the vice president was signed by all the board members representing the six geo-political zones and two others representing the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Jamaโatul Nasril Islam (JNI).
The signatories are: Professor Muhammad Umaru Ndagi (North Central), Alhaji Abba K. Jato (North East), Shaykh Muhammad Bn Uthman (North West), Hajiya Aishat Obi (South East), Hajiya Zainab Musa (South South), Dr Tajudeen Abefe Oladejo (South West), Professor Adedimeji Mahfouz Adebola (NSCIA) and Professor Musa Inuwa Fodio (JNI).
However, the commission said all its activities are being carried out according to rules guiding its operations and that no one is being sidelined as alleged.
The petitioners alleged that they were sidelined by the commission from the pre-hajj visits to Saudi Arabia, the fixing of hajj fare, the selection of tour operators and Saudi service providers, procurement, among other oversight functions.
They alleged that when arrangements were made for a pre-hajj visit to Saudi Arabia on March 18, 2025, it โwould be the first time that Shaykh Muhammad Bn Uthman representing North West and Dr Tajudeen Abefe Oladejo, representing South West would be going on pre-hajj visit since the inauguration of the 5th Board of NAHCON. The North East Zonal representative, Alhaji Abba Jato, who had once gone to perform Umrah on his own, was co-opted to be part of a pre-hajj visit after he had arrived in Saudi Arabia.
โEach time a board member is asked to join the select team for a pre-hajj trip, he/she is left to source for funds to purchase an air ticket and obtain an entry visa from the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Abuja with no administrative support in all arrangements connected to the trip.
โThis is even as pre-hajj visits are supposed to be appropriated for in NAHCONโs annual budget. The reimbursement of all travelling expenses is done only after the membersโ arrival in Saudi Arabia.โ
The aggrieved members further alleged that the failure of the chairman and his executive team to see them as representing several states in a geo-political zone was probably responsible for the โindifferent disposition towards us.โ
โThey do not see us beyond our personal names,โ they alleged.
They also accused the chairman of financial high-handedness, saying not a single procurement matter had ever been brought before the board since its inauguration over a year ago.
โFare for 2025 was announced to the public without the knowledge of the 5th board. We had no knowledge of how the fare was arrived at. It was after the fare became public knowledge that a zoom meeting was called for the board to ratify it. This was after we raised an alarm. This, no doubt, is a clear disregard for due process.
โAs members of the commission who should be part of the duties specified in Section 4a (i & i), a list of approved tour operators for the 2025 hajj exercise was prepared and released without any input from the board. It was never brought to the board. Some of these breaches that violate relevant sections of the NAHCON 2006 Act amount to utter disregard, not only for the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its laws, but also for this board that was enacted by an ACT of the National Assembly,โ the petitioners stated.
NAHCONโs response
In responding to the allegations, the chairman, Professor Abdullahi Usman, told Daily Trust that, โThere are 19 board members. Four of whom are permanent and are responsible for running the daily office routines of the commission. The other 15 are part time members with advisory roles. They are not responsible for overseeing daily office procedures or procurements. As board members they are required to hold a meeting on a quarterly basis to review actions taken by the commission during that period and to take decisions etc.
โBoard members also form part of committees based on their specialties such as establishment committee that oversees staff promotions and other matters, financial and general-purpose committee that has people representing the financial sector as members. Some committees are operational-based such as the aviation screening committee that selects air carriers, medical committee, central security committee, that all do their jobs periodically and have a combination of board members and staff in them.
โOn procurement, there is the tendersโ board that takes decisions on procurement and other financial matters above the chairmanโs threshold and the board comprises the three permanent board members and the chairman as demanded by the government. Procurement matters are not part of the boardโs responsibilities. However, they are involved in planning the commissionโs budget. But daily office running and procurement issues within the chairmanโs approval limit do not go through the board.
โOn the issue of pre-hajj visits, it has been the tradition of the house that board members are selected to join the team on offshore assignments that are fieldworks carried out by staff. The members are included on a rotational basis. Staff form the bulk of the team because they are the technocrats conducting the operations while board members are represented in the team as part of the decision-making body. During the 1st pre-hajj, board members representing North-east and South East were among the team and were among those that held discussions on selection of service providers. They were among those that visited several service providers in the kingdom. In the second pre-hajj visit, board members from South West and North West participated.
โThe hajj fare was arrived at after negotiations by and submissions by several committees and board members are part of some of these committees. After each committee negotiates and arrives at a price, the total hajj fare is presented to board members before it is announced to the public. The board does not sit down to decide the hajj fare unilaterally but hajj fare is discussed with them.
โAlso, board members do not select tour operators; there is a department under Operations that is saddled with that responsibility.
โBottom line is that each member is involved in different activities according to their schedule, but cannot form part of all the daily activities of the commission. They are part of policy decision making, not daily activities.โ
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