THERE is growing confusion among the 140 licensed Nigerian private tour operators following the failure of a Saudi company, Rawaf Mina, to secure camp services for their 10,000 pilgrims in Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa for the 2026 Hajj.
This comes after the companies realised that Rawaf Mina, which was engaged on November 15, 2025 by NAHCON for them, does not have the capacity and requisite authorization from the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to provide camp services to pilgrims this year.
The company was engaged to provide services to about 9,750 Nigerian private pilgrims for the 2026 Hajj.
A month and a half after the signing of the contract in Makkah between the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Chairman/CEO, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan; and the CEO of Rawaf Mina Company, Mr Zuhair Abdel Hamid Sadayo; the bubble burst, when it became clear that the company doesn’t have facilities in Masha’ir (Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa).
“It was shocking that Rawaf Mina doesn’t have camp/tent facilities in Masha’ir after all. He is now indirectly trying to subcontract us to other companies under fresh deals and arrangements,” one of the tour operators confided to this newspaper on Tuesday.
“This means that we have to engage different companies, under different terms, all over again for the Masha’ir services. This also means a likely increase in fees. So far, preliminary estimates have indicated that there is a likely increase of about 1,000 Saudi riyal per pilgrim. This is scandalous.”
The Rawaf Mina Contract Scandal
Earlier, newspapers in Nigeria have reported how the Hajj commission under Mr Pakistan signed the multi-billion-naira contract with Rawaf Mina for tour operators’ pilgrims without recourse to the procurement and other extant regulations of Nigeria.
It was uncovered that the NAHCON leadership signed the Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah contracts with Rawaf Mina without obtaining the compulsory ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).
The Public Procurement Act, 2007 requires public procuring entities to obtain prior approval (No Objection) from the BPP before using non-competitive procurement methods such as Restricted/Selective Tendering, Direct Procurement, and Emergency Procurement.
It was further revealed that the Hajj commission didn’t send the contract to the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for legal vetting and approval before its signing.
This development is also a clear violation of the directives issued by Vice President Kashim Shettima, via a letter dated June 20, 2025, with reference number SH/OVP/DCOS, and signed by Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Vice President’s Office), Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia.
The letter, sent to NAHCON and other federal agencies under the supervision of the VP’s office, referenced an earlier FG’s circular, which states that all contracts above N100 million with foreign firms must be vetted and approved by the Federal Ministry of Justice.
However, with 9,750 private tour pilgrim slots this year, the contract sum with Rawaf Mina would be about N13,158,600,000 at the rate of 3,500 Saudi riyal per pilgrim, which is equivalent to 34,125,000 Saudi riyal (3,500 x 385.6 x 9,750).
Rawaf Mina’s History Of Poor Services
During the 2024 Hajj, this newspaper recalls that Rawaf Mina served the Nigerian tour operators’ pilgrims — rendering poor services, leaving pilgrims with no tents, no beddings, no food, and no water — triggering widespread condemnation by pilgrims and tour operators.
During the 2025 Hajj, even the Nigerian VIP pilgrims were affected by the Rawaf Mina’s poor services. After the company lost the prestigious TENT A camp – a five-minute walk to the Jamarat – the VIPs were relocated to Zone 2, about an hour’s walk to the Jamarat.
Aside from the long distance, even the Rawaf Mina’s management of the TENT A+ was chaotic, leading many Nigerian VIPs, including a serving governor from a North-Central state, a first lady of a North-West state, and a former deputy governor from a North-West state, among others, to be locked out from the camp.
How Rawaf Mina Got The Contract
Findings have shown that greed and alleged underhanded dealings were responsible for the mess the tour operators found themselves in now. Sources privy to the deal told our reporters that Rawaf Mina was picked against other competent companies because it “cut down its prices.”
The sources explained that Rawaf Mina offered the Masha’ir services at 3,500 Saudi riyal per pilgrim to tour operators, against the 3,900 Saudi riyal per head negotiated for the state pilgrims. “It was bait, and unfortunately we fell for it,” one of the tour operators told this newspaper.
The tour operator, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said “that 3,500 Saudi riyal per pilgrim price was not realistic if you know Hajj operation very well.”
The source said that for any veteran of the Hajj operation, the 3,500 Saudi riyal per pilgrim offered was unrealistic “because the company would pay 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) from it. That leaves the company with 2,950 Saudi riyal after the removal of 525 Saudi riyal VAT.”
Another tour operator conversant with the Rawaf Mina deal alleged that, “The company would also give NAHCON leadership and a tour operator 350 Saudi riyal per pilgrim as kickback, which translates to 3,412,500 Saudi riyal (equivalent to N1,296,286,098). This means that the company would be left with 2,625 Saudi riyal per head.”
It was also alleged that the NAHCON leadership, in cahoots with the leadership of the Hajj and Umrah Tour Operators Association of Nigeria (HUTON), were allegedly carried away by what they stand to gain from the deal that they didn’t bother to scrutinise the contract details, particularly the services to be rendered to the pilgrims.
What A Lawyer Says
A lawyer who spoke to this newspaper on the legal implications of the contract said, Rawaf Mina’s metamorphosis from a Masha’ir service provider to a reception services, is a gross violation of the contract.
The legal practitioner, Kabiru Danladi,said Rawaf Mina has signed a contract for camp booking and camp services, which includes provision of beddings, feeding, sanitation and water. “With the new development, it is clear that Rawaf Mina can’t provide these services, therefore the contract has collapsed and it should refund the money given to it,” the lawyer said.
Barrister Danladi said the wisdom behind the vetting and approval by the Federal Ministry of Justice was to foreclose issues like these and provide remedies for contract violations.
Aside the refund, Rawaf Mina should pay damages to the tour operators, the lawyer said.
Options For Tour Operators
Insiders said with the new development, Rawaf Mina’s services would be restricted to pilgrims receptions in Makkah and Madinah alone. “The tour operators are on their own now as far as the Masha’ir services are concerned,” one of the NAHCON officials said.
While some tour operators are agonising over this mess, some of them confided in this newspaper that they are contemplating a legal action against Rawaf Mina and NAHCON in Saudi Arabia and in Nigeria over the controversial deal.
Some of the tour operators, it was learned, have reached out to Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah, the company serving state quota pilgrims, for a way out. “Some of us have reached out to Mashariq Dhahabiah to serve our pilgrims,” the source said.
It was not clear whether that would be possible, looking at the Saudi Hajj ministry’s strict timeline for contract signing over Masha’ir services.
Insiders said the tour operators are confused now over the development. “There is confusion everywhere. Even the NAHCON leadership is confused. Apparently, the Hajjj commission leadership is oblivious of the new system,” one of the tour operators said.
Instead of educating the tour operators of the new system, “the Hajj commission itself is confused and doesn’t understand the new system, let alone educate and guide the tour operators. This all boils down to the capacity deficit inherent in the NAHCON chief,” one of the tour operators said.
This newspaper reports that the two options apparently open to the tour operators now are the B2B and the B2C service models. The B2B model allows tour operators select Hajj package in the NUSUK platform on behalf of the pilgrims; while the B2C model only allows the tour operator to guide the prospective pilgrim select and pay for Hajj package directly in the NUSUK platform.
Insiders confirmed that with the new development Rawaf Mina has already recused himself from the responsibilities at the Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah services. This means that the tour operators must now engage, through the NUSUK platform, pre-qualified service providers for Masha’ir at fixed costs. This development has generated confusion among tour operators.
This has resulted in an incidental rising cost, said one of the operators in Abuja on Wednesday. Blaming NAHCON for the mess, one of the leading tour operators said, “Our cost has changed dramatically. We are expecting an increment of about 1,000 Saudi riyal per pilgrim.” He said the Masha’ir service providers under the B2C model have fixed prices on the NUSUK platform. There is no room for negotiation. This is a disaster midwifed by the NAHCON chairman,” the tour operator said.
Insiders said that with this development, the tour operators have already notified NAHCON to refund the $100 service charge per pilgrim they paid to the commission. By this, the commission would refund about $975,000 to the tour operators.
Tour Operators Divided
The appointment of Rawaf Mina, this newspaper learned, didn’t go down well with some tour operators, particularly members of the Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON). It took more than a month of horse-trading in Nigeria before they settled down on Rawaf Mina in Makkah to beat the Saudi deadline.
It would be recalled that on June 14, 2025, while in Saudi Arabia, Mr Pakistan had appointed a Saudi Arabian company, Ekram Deif, as the sole service provider for all Nigerian pilgrims for the 2026 Hajj. It was flatly rejected by the Presidency after a petition by the NAHCON Commissioner for Operations, Anofi Elegushi.
Despite this backlash, Mr Pakistan again recommended Rawaf Mina through a letter with reference number NAHCON/AI/17/X/791, and dated September 11, 2025, as the exclusive Masha’ir service provider for the VIP, tour operators, and state pilgrims. But the vice president rejected it, saying the forum of the state chief executives and other stakeholders must determine it.
It was further learned that since Mr Pakistan couldn’t impose Ekram Deif or Rawaf Mina on state quota pilgrims, he “used all avenues to impose Rawaf Mina on tour operators despite its bad antecedents.”
This newspaper has obtained a copy of a petition from the NAHCON chairman’s office, written by a veteran Hajj analyst, ‘Yinka Raheem, dated December 11, 2025, where he drew attention to the fraudulent manner the Rawaf Mina’s contract was executed.
The petition, addressed to the BPP, EFCC and the Vice President’s Office, requested the cancellation and investigation of the Rawaf Mina Masha’ir contracts and replacing with a more capable and credible Saudi company before it was too late.
Insiders at the EFCC and BPP said that some NAHCON staff had also written petitions over the same contracts, urging the procurement agency to cancel it, and appealing to the anti-graft agency to launch investigation.
Further findings have shown that Mr Elegushi was the only NAHCON top official that “stood for the truth” during the Rawaf Mina contract debacle. “The commissioner of operations was despised when he called out Rawaf Mina’s inadequacies. But he is now vindicated,” one of the tour operators said.
Stakeholders’ Reaction
Some Hajj stakeholders have praised the state pilgrim welfare boards for rejecting Mr Pakistan’s earlier imposition of Rawaf Mina on them.
A staff of NAHCON who spoke in confidence for fear of victimization said, the over N1.2 billion kickback allegedly being expected from the tour operators deal “has made it clear why the NAHCON chairman is always courting controversy. That is why some of the top officials are running after chieftaincy titles, adding more wives or buying pedestrian awards.”
The official said the problem at the Hajj House is being compounded because Mr Pakistan has put square pegs in round holes. “Competent and experienced staff are dropped and replaced by inexperienced and incompetent ones for selfish reasons. This is evident in the ICT and the media departments. The work is suffering.”
Other stakeholders who spoke to this newspaper said that if not for the states resistance, the Rawaf Mina contract scandal would have plunged the entire Nigerian pilgrims into the mess.
The stakeholders have urged the Saudi Hajj ministry to sanction Rawaf Mina and the NAHCON for using innocent pilgrims as pawns in their selfish game.
The stakeholders also blamed the Presidency for not taking decision against Mr Pakistan despite his inefficiency -induced controversies.
“Since his assumption as NAHCON chairman in the last one year and half, there is no single contract that Professor Pakistan entered that didn’t result into problems and controversy. This is simply due lack of capacity,” one of the stakeholders said.
They said the culture of always looking the other way by the Presidency while Mr Pakistan throws the commission and the Hajj industry under the bus would not augur well for the country and its image abroad. They urged the Presidency to do the needful by removing Mr Pakistan from office before the Hajj commission collapses under him.
“If at all NAHCON chairman has proficiency in English language, he would have read the contract terms before it was signed. Unfortunately, due his lack of capacity, he had to rely on translators. And this is what led into all this mess,” one of the staff members in the commission said.
Attempts to speak to Mr Pakistan over the story was not successful because he didn’t answer calls made to his mobile phone.