The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has announced that there will be no concessionary exchange rate from the government for Hajj fare payment for pilgrims, whether under state or private Hajj operators.

Currently, the exchange rate of a naira to a dollar is N1,650, meaning each pilgrim that plans to partake in the trip will pay almost N10 million ($6,000) as fare.

Although the commission is yet to announce the Hajj fare, the States Pilgrims Welfare Board has started asking intending pilgrims to pay N8.5 million as an initial deposit pending the official announcement of the Hajj fare.

The spokesperson of NAHCON, Fatima Sanda Usara, said in a statement mentioned the refunding of 64,682 (150 Saudi Riyal) to every Nigerian pilgrim who participated in the 2023 hajj.

“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.”

Elegushi pointed out that Saudi Arabia had further reduced the number of PTO from 20 to 10, which was initially announced and each company must register a minimum of 2,000 pilgrims to be considered for Hajj visa approval.

He said for the 2022 refund, the commission is still awaiting further details, but refund details have emerged only for PTOs that camped on Field Office 18 in 2022 and they are to collectively receive SR62,602 (N26,993,224) as a refund for poor feeding in the Masha’ir.

“Similarly, the Commissioner of Operations informed the PTO members that the NAHCON’s EXCO has approved the option of honouring bank guarantee as payment of a N40 million 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 the collection of the earlier deposit in order to present the bank guarantee.”

He also clarified that contrary to claims that NAHCON owes PTOs N17 billion from the 2024 Hajj caution deposit of N25 million, it only received N2 billion, N750 million from 110 companies that registered for the 2024 Hajj.

“The amount included a roll-over of N1billion, 250million from the previous year. From the amount, 30 companies requested for refunds amounting to N750 million, which has been paid. The balance still in the custody of the commission accruing to undecided PTOs is N750 million,” he said.