The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has denied violating terms of the contract it entered with Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi, the Saudi Arabian company contracted to provide services to Nigerian pilgrims during the 2025 Hajj exercise.
Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, Chairman of the commission, said this in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Daily Trust had reported how the company threatened to take Nigeria to an international arbitration court due to the commission’s alleged “failure to adhere with terms of contract”.
NAHCON was said to have split the contract with Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi and Ikram Diyafa before the February 14 deadline set by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia elapsed.
In a letter dated 1446/08/17 (17/02/2025), addressed to the head of Nigerian pilgrims’ affairs office in Makkah, the company had said the commission breached its contract agreement that it would be the sole service provider for Nigerian pilgrims during the Hajj exercise, especially in Muna and Arafah.
It, therefore, gave the commission 20 days to normalise all the agreements signed by the two parties failing which it take the NAHCON to an international arbitration panel.
Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al-Mutawazi and NAHCON had signed an agreement to cater for Nigerian pilgrims during the exercise on January 17 2025, but the forum of states’ pilgrims welfare boards raised an alarm that NAHCON’s Chairman, Prof. Abdullahi Usman Saleh, had unilaterally cancelled the contract days to the closure of payment deadlines to agreed companies by countries participating in the exercise.
The NAHCON chairman had denied that he arbitrarily cancelled the agreement, saying it was the decision of authorities in Saudi Arabia.
According to some reports, Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi had stated that NAHCON allocated 26,287 to it, even though the commission had announced it secured tent space for 52,544 Nigerians to participate in the Hajj exercise, meaning that the remaining 26,257 Nigerians would be catered for by the second company.
In the letter sent to NAHCON, Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi said: “Given that the number of pilgrims whose data you have provided to us and who are registered in the Massar (NUSUK) system for international pilgrims’ services amounts to (26,287) pilgrims as of this date, your contracting with one or more companies other than Mashariq Al Dhahabiah for pilgrim services constitutes a clear violation of the aforementioned clause. This is especially true since Mashariq Al Dhahabiah has taken all necessary measures to serve the pilgrims arriving from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as outlined in the previous correspondence shared with you.
But responding, NAHCON Chairman who said the commission was not in receipt of any letter from the Saudi firm, added that he had written to the firm through his lawyers to formalize and consolidate the clauses of the contract the two parties entered on providing welfare services to Nigerian pilgrims, saying the matter had been put to rest.
The NAHCON chairman said he is aware of a plot to derail the commission and rubbish the progress NAHCON has been making since he assumed as the commission chairman.
He added that individuals working tirelessly to undermine the commission are doomed to fail, saying he would not fail Nigerians or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He, however, called on the public, especially the intending pilgrims, to disregard the report against the commission,.
The statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to a news story claiming that Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi has threatened to sue NAHCON to an international arbitration court due to the commission’s alleged “failure to adhere with terms of contract”. This is outrightly untrue.
“In the first place, we have not violated any clause of the agreement we entered with the firm. And to avoid such misconceptions, we instructed our lawyers to write to the firm with a view to ironing the clauses of the contact, which has since been done.
“In the letter we informed the firm that the final number of pilgrims coming from Nigeria for the 1446H Hajj season will be determined through the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s platform.
“We also brought to their attention that the contract was signed on 17/07/1446H, and as per Article (8), they are obligated from the contract signing date to “provide, determine, prepare, and arrange all necessary equipment and service requirements agreed upon in both qualitative and quantitative classification through the electronic path.
“The contract is a single, indivisible unit and any part should not be read in isolation. Instead, it should be interpreted as a whole. The final number of pilgrims coming from Nigeria for the 1446H Hajj season will be determined through the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s platform. The platform referred to here, as stated in Clause (5) of Article (2), is the “electronic path for foreign pilgrims.
“We could have cancelled the contract in addition to (not providing any pilgrims at all), but we preferred not to harm you despite your intention to harm us.
“NAHCON works with the confines of the law. We have made so much progress. Some people feel intimidated by the progress we are making. They are behind the report, but this will never derail us.”