Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency has promised to refund $50 to each of its pilgrim, following the downward price review it got from the company that it engaged to slaughter sacrificial animals in Saudi Arabia on their behalf.
Speaking to newsmen in Mecca on Thursday, Air Vice Marshall Muhammad Rabiu Dabo (rtd), a board member of the agency who chaired the Hadaya Committee, disclosed that the pilgrims would either be paid in Saudi Arabia or Nigeria, depending on their preferences.
In a statement posted on the official Facebbok of the Agency on Thursday, Dabo said 1,357 pilgrims paid through the Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency but the 700 pilgrims who paid in Nigeria are those who are eligible for the refund.
He further disclosed how members of his committee met about five times, got input from everyone on the way to go about the assignment and how it met with the companies that procured and slaughtered the animals in Mecca.
Slaughtering of rams or Hadaya is an important component of the Hajj rites as pilgrims are expected to slaughter rams individually or contribute to buy a camel for slaughter.
Dabo recalled that Hadaya is one of the most complicated aspects of Hajj whereby pilgrims are often shortchanges, adding that that was ‘’why we took our time and negotiated with the companies.”
According to him, the committee members did not just allow the companies to procure the rams and slaughter them on their own ‘’but we went to the slaughtering house to see each ram ourselves before they were slaughtered.’’
The chairman said the first company they met with was ‘’a company owned by a Sudanese retired General Muhammad, who insisted that we pay 500 Riyals per ram, which translates to about N200,000, which is $150.
‘’We argued that given the shortfall of the Basic Traveling Allowance that pilgrims were given $400 because of exchange rate that CBN applied, we pleaded that he should review it to 300 Riyals per ram to allow pilgrims take care of other things.
‘’In the end, we got an Islamic Development Bank-accredited company which agreed to collect 375 Riyals per animal. We were at the slaughter house to physically inspect the animals and see them being slaughtered.’’
Dabo said with this review, pilgrims that paid for their Hadaya through the Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency would get a refund of about $50 each.
The chairman lamented the activities of some staff of the agency who colluded with Africans living in Saudi Arabia, promising them a better price of Hadaya, adding, ‘’Most of these pilgrims ended up being cheated.’’
He advised that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) should include the cost of Hadaya in the total Hajj package to protect pilgrims from these unscrupulous elements.