The Amirul Hajj of Lagos State, who is the commissioner for Home Affairs, Hon. Ibrahim Layode has called on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to convene a meeting with all states to discuss the challenges faced during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage and how to avoid a reoccurrence.
He made the call on Tuesday while addressing a press conference at the Lagos State hotel accommodation in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
“We had a lot of challenges and most of them are from NAHCON,” he said.
The commissioner specifically said the caterer selected to provide meals for the state pilgrims was using his own wisdom to select a menu that is not favourable to the people of the south west.
He added that the pilgrims almost protested at Mina and many of them rejected the meals served and chosed to go and buy food from vendors.
Alhaji Layode also said even the accommodation provided for Lagos pilgrims in Makkah is not up to standard.
He however, said despite these challenges, he disagrees with the call for the scrapping of NAHCON as is being done by some people, saying “you can’t throw away the baby with the bath water”
Speaking further, he said “ NAHCON themselves have agreed that there have been challenges this year which I believe as a government, we need to come together to sit down on a round table discussion and point to them some of these challenges and mistakes and find solutions to them against the Hajj of 2025”.
The commissioner expressed his appreciation to Lagos state pilgrims for their patience and endurances saying his is very proud of their conducts despites obvious operational challenges.
The commissioner also revealed that so far, about 500 pilgrims are already back home while an additional 420 will be leaving by Wednesday.
He took the opportunity of the press conference to thank governor of Lagos State, Babajide Olusola Sanwo Olu and his deputy, Dr Khadri Babafeni Hamzat for providing the shortfall of the Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) to the pilgrims and also offsetting the cost of Rams.
