Muslims intending to travel to Saudi Arabia for the 2025 Hajj may have to pay more as the federal government of Nigeria has suspended subsidies for Hajj payments.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) confirmed the development in a statement issued on Monday through the commission’s spokesperson, Fatima Sanda Usara.
It is worth noting that the government subsidies typically come in the form of a concessionary exchange rate, enabling pilgrims to purchase dollars at a lower rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, Usara announced, “There will be no concessionary exchange rate from the government for Hajj fare payment for pilgrims, whether through state or private Hajj operators.”
As a result, if the naira remains at its current exchange rate of ₦1,650 to a dollar, each prospective pilgrim will need to pay nearly ₦10 million for Hajj fare, given that the cost is at least $6,000, OsunDailyNG understands.
While NAHCON has yet to disclose the official Hajj fare for 2025, State Pilgrims Welfare Boards have started requesting pilgrims to make an initial deposit of ₦8.5 million, pending the fare announcement.
Additionally, the statement indicated that a refund of 64,682 (150 Saudi Riyal) would be issued to every Nigerian pilgrim participating in the 2023 Hajj.
These updates were shared during an interactive meeting between NAHCON and members of the Private Tour Operators in Nigeria (PTOs).
“The meeting held today, 7th October 2024, was to update members on resolutions reached after the resumption of office on Wednesday, 2nd October 2024, by Acting Chairman of the Commission, Prof Abdullahi Sale Pakistan, who had been absent briefly on a trip.
“NAHCON’s Commissioner of Operations, Prince Anofi Olanrewaju Elegushi, chaired the virtual meeting with the PTOs where he relayed new developments from both Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah (MoHU) and NAHCON’s decisions resulting from the second EXCO meeting with the new head of the Commission,” the statement noted.
The statement further quoted Elegushi to have indicated that Saudi Arabia has decreased the number of Pilgrim Transport Operators (PTOs) from the initially announced 20 to 10.
Each company must now register at least 2,000 pilgrims to qualify for Hajj visa approval.
He mentioned that regarding the 2022 refunds, the commission is still obtaining additional information.
However, refund details have been released only for PTOs that operated in Field Office 18 in 2022, which are set to collectively receive SR62,602 (₦26,993,224) due to inadequate meal provisions in the Masha’ir.
“Similarly, the Commissioner of Operations informed the PTO members that the NAHCON’s EXCO has approved the option of honouring the bank guarantee as payment of ₦40 million in caution deposit for the 2025 Hajj.
“In view of the above, any operator who wishes to make the payment through bank guarantee but has already made a cash deposit is invited to request for collection of the earlier deposit in order to present the bank guarantee,” it added.
He also clarified that contrary to claims that NAHCON owes PTOs N17 billion from the 2024 Hajj caution deposit of ₦25 million, it only received ₦2 billion, ₦750 million from 110 companies registered for the 2024 Hajj.
“The amount included a rollover of ₦1 billion, ₦250million from the previous year. From the amount, 30 companies requested for refunds amounting to ₦750m, which has been paid. The balance still in the custody of the commission accruing to undecided PTOs is ₦750m.”
