- restates commitment to the reduction of hajj fares, pledges consolidation
By Salisu Idris
The newly inaugurated Executive Chairman of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Bar. Zikrullah Olakunle Hassan, has restated commitment to reduction of hajj fares in the country.
Hassan made the pledge in his inaugural speech shortly after took over from Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed, at the National Hajj Commission Headquarters, on Thursday in Abuja.
He also promised to consolidate and build upon the solid foundation laid by his predecessors and founding father of the commission.
” Today I stand before you to make a solemn pledge to continue the never ending journey to improve, elevate and uplift the Hajj administration in Nigeria to an enviable height.
” I must pay glowing tributes to the founding fathers whose labor and brow sweat formed the rock on which the foundation of this commission was laid in 2006 when the enabling law establishing NAHCON was passed.”
” We understood that outworn programme are inadequate to address the need of our time especially in the area of funding and revenue generation.
“We must harness new ideas to make and reduce the cost of Hajj so that many Muslim can be empowered and enabled to heed and hearken to the divine call and obligation.”
He also promised to make NAHCON a global brand, noting that the journey would not be complete until the commission was able to attain the lofty heights of the famed Malaysian Tabung Hajj, where services and welfare of the pilgrims are run efficiently.
” These and other lofty ideas cannot be achieved singularly by me or the management board alone. We need the support and cooperation of the entire staff,” he said.
Hassan assured that the board of NAHCON under his leadership would make the staff and their welfare the anchor of its policies.
According to him, no one has greater stake in a viable and prosperous future of the commission than it staff.
Speaking earlier, the outgoing Chairman of NAHCON, Mohammed said his tenure had achieved it 17 agenda aimed at transforming hajj administration in the country.
He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for allowing him and his team to serve to the commission despite being an appointee of the previous government.
“Nothing is permanent. I am happy that those who would succeed the Hajj operation are from the circle of those who knows about Hajj.
“This Hajj house is 100 percent property of NAHCON and by extension the entire Muslims.
“We have a vision of how the Hajj institute will be a revenue generation for the commission. So, these projects are enough for the Commission to independently manage and deliver the hajj operation.
