Assalam alaykum waramatullah wabarkatuhu,
It is gives us a great sense of honour and fulfillment for Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR) to welcome you all to the 2024 HAJJ LECTURE/AWARD ceremony.
We give glory to Allah Subhanahu wata’ala who made this event possible despite the initial challenges and hiccups.
The Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR), Hajj Reporters Media Ltd, as a registered Non-Governmental Organisation as well as a Media Company, serves as a platform for journalists who focus on the Hajj industry – from pilgrims’ welfare, development of Hajj institutions and most importantly playing the critical role of oversight functions over those saddled with the responsibility of managing Hajj affairs in Nigeria.
To do this, Hajj Reporters Media Ltd publishes Hajj Reporters.com, Hajj reporters Hausa.com, and Hajj Reporters Magazine. We also engage in other endeavours, sometimes in partnership with other stakeholders in the industry.
The Independent Hajj Reporters Annual Hajj lecture and awards are part of these endeavours. The dual objective of these two-in-one event is first to reward success and promote competitiveness among Hajj administrators and service providers – with a view to serving Nigerian pilgrims before, during and after the annual Hajj exercise. The second goal is to broaden the discussion and review challenges of Hajj and Umrah operations to create parameters in search of practical and realistic solutions that will enhance the service to Nigerian pilgrims onshore and offshore.
We carefully and collectively define the scale of performance and choose the basic metre of ‘success’ in itemized hajj services to select the awardees. I repeat, the road to IHR award is not limited to Hajj days or when airlift of pilgrims commences. Presently, our team has begun the monitoring of pre-Hajj activities of State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards and other operational stakeholders ahead of the 2025 Hajj. This is part of the requirements for selection.
Today, we are going to honour some State Governors for their crucial interventions and pivotal support to their respective State Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Boards and the 2204 Hajj pilgrims, especially in financial terms. May Almighty Allah reward their efforts.
It is important for us to acknowledge that despite the challenges encountered during the 2024 Hajj, about 58,000 Nigerians Muslims were airlifted to Saudi Arabia for this years’ exercise. This figure showed that Nigeria still has the largest number of pilgrims from Africa and maintains its status as the fifth largest Hajj contingent in the world – a reason to honour those who contributed to the relative success achieved.
Distinguished guests, the topic of discussion today centers on effective time management during pre-hajj preparations.
While we await Professor Wasiu Gabadeen to do justice to this issue, it is essential for Hajj administrators to understand the importance and implications of time on Hajj service delivery.
According to the Saudi Arabian 2025 Hajj Calendar, we have 134 days to the commencement of processing and issuance of Hajj visa from today. The first set of 2025 Hajj pilgrims will arrive Saudi Arabia on the 29th of April 2025 which is approximately 237 days from today. The day of Arafat is projected to be on the 5th of June which is 273 days from today.
More importantly, the commencement of contracts with Saudi based Service Providers on service packages, choice and reservation of spaces in Mina will begin on 23rd October, 2024 – less than 30 days from now.
It is worrisome that Nigeria is yet to begin pilgrims’ registrations even when other Hajj participant countries that operate three to five years Hajj rolling plan have already gone far in registration of intending pilgrims.
Given the above, Independent Hajj Reporters will like to use this opportunity to appeal to the Senate to convene an emergency meeting at the committee level to screen and possibly clear the newly appointed NAHCON Chairman to save the industry from eating away more valuable time and kick start the implementation of 2025 Hajj calendar. The time is now.
This year, a total of 1,833,164 pilgrims performed Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Of this number, 1,611,310 were from Hajj participating countries, while domestic pilgrims – both citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia – reached 221,854. The number of male pilgrims this year reached 958,137, while female pilgrims totaled 875,027.
A breakdown of pilgrims from Nigeria and other Hajj countries showed that 22.3 percent came from Arab countries, 63.3 percent, the largest group, from Asian non-Arab countries, 11.3 percent from African non-Arab countries, 3.2 percent from Europe, America, Australia, and other unclassified regions.
We rolled out this statistic to understand the complex nature of Hajj and difficulties on serving hundreds of thousands of people undertaking a religious and spiritual exercise in the same place at the same time with the same passion of attaining Hajj Mabrur
Given the above, Independent Hajj Reporters commends the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their round the clock commitment in serving the Muslim Ummah, by deploying both human and other resources to host the Guests of Ar-Rahman. May Almighty Allah continue to protect the Holy land and their leaders. Ameen
Permit to say at this juncture that the Independent Hajj Reporters is deeply concerned that the Hajj Industry is facing negative media reportage owing to the outright breach of trust by those who are saddled with the responsibility of shepherding our pilgrims. It is a challenge we cannot shy away from especially being a Major Media Stakeholder in the Hajj and Umrah Industry.
However, while we admit the obvious fraudulent activities of some Hajj administrators, the misinformation and outright disparagement of NAHCON from an interested group within the Hajj and Umrah system is giving us a lot of concern. We should identify the lapses and single out the administrator that has erred as opposed to condemning NAHCON as an institution.
There is need to review the structure of Hajj Administration across the federating units through legal and policy overhaul to create avenue for honest, competent and experienced people to superintend the Hajj and Umrah affairs in Nigeria. Anything short of this will amount to dancing around a cycle.
Our focus revolves around satisfaction of pilgrims within the standard Hajj operating procedure that takes cognizance of fulfillment of the Almighty Allah’s injunctions on Hajj Mabrur.
Finally, we are extremely grateful for those who spent their time and resources to make this event a reality. May Almighty Allah reward you all in millions fold.
We pray this event will activate a new commitment and dedication from Hajj administrators to provide commensurate services to our dear pilgrims before and during the upcoming Hajj 2025 and we pray that Almighty Allah counts us among that will witness the 2025 Hajj Ameen.
We pray for a smooth and peaceful event and wish us all a safe trip back to our various destinations – Ameen Thuma Ameen
Once more, thank you for being here!
