THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has not yet submitted the 2025 Hajj report to President Bola Tinubu, six months after the pilgrimage.
This breaches the NAHCON (Establishment) Act 2022, insiders have said. The Act requires that the commission submit a Hajj report within three months of the pilgrimage.
Section 20 (1) states that, “The Commission shall, not later than three months after Arafat Day, prepare and submit to the President, under whose Office the Commission shall operate, a report on the pilgrimage for each year.”
Subsection 2 (a) specifies that the “Commission shall at the end of each financial year prepare and submit to the President and National Assembly- (a) An annual report of all the activities of the Commission in the financial year.”
Arafat was observed on June 5, 2025, making December 5, 2025, exactly six months.
This means that the Hajj commission had up to September 5, 2025 to submit the report in compliance with that law.
The commission’s failure to submit the 2025 Hajj report generated fears within the Presidency, with stakeholders fearing it could adversely affect preparations for the 2026 Hajj.
Historically, the commission has submitted its report immediately after Hajj to enable proper planning for the following year.
Worried by this development, Vice President Kashim Shettima summoned NAHCON chiefs through a letter dated September 4, 2025, with reference number SH/OVP/DCOS/NAHCON, titled “NAHCON Executive Committee and Stakeholders Meeting with His Excellency the Vice President.”
“I have been directed by His Excellency, the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, GCON, to invite you for an important meeting to discuss outcomes from the 2025 Hajj Exercise and matters arising therefrom,” the letter addressed to Mr Pakistan, and signed by Senator Ibrahim Hassah Hadejia, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), reads in part.
It further states that, “The Executive Commissioners are expected to provide a brief on the discharge of their departmental mandates to pave the way for a full report as per S20 (1) of the NAHCON Act, and representation from the Board, and the State Chairmen’s forum will also be in attendance.
“The meeting will also address pressing issues and establish guidelines for the diligent preparation of the 2026 Hajj Exercise, for which a strict implementation calendar has already been issued by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj,” the letter explained.
Insiders indicated that this is the first time in the history of the Hajj commission that the Presidency has had to intervene and direct the commission to produce a report.
Sources at the Office of the President mentioned that they have not received the 2025 Hajj report from NAHCON.
However, checks at the Office of the Vice President revealed that NAHCON Chairman/CEO, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, had submitted a report “very recently.” It was further learned that the commission submitted the report to the VP’s Office in late November, instead of September 5.
But the Vice President’s Office was unable to process and forward it to President Tinubu due to “some grievous errors, financial discrepancies and inconsistencies.”
Another source at the Presidency disclosed, “There was a half-baked report. It was full of disjointed information and conflicting financial figures.”
Insiders said the VP’s Office had issued a query to NAHCON to clarify the financial details of the report. “Despite the back and forth, the Hajj commission has failed to balance its accounts,” another official privy to the report said.
The official added that the commission has allegedly “cooked its books in the crudest and predatory manner unimaginable.”
This newspaper gathered that when the commission was asked to clarify certain issues by the VP’s Office, it submitted yet an another report that totally contradicted what it submitted earlier further deepening the discrepancies.
The confusion did not even end at that, the Presidency official said. “It is interesting to tell you that the individual reports earlier submitted by the NAHCON Commissioners of Operations and that of Finance have also totally contradicted the NAHCON main report,” the insiders said.
This newspaper learned that immediately after the Hajj in June, Commissioner for Policy, Personnel, Management & Finance (PPMF), Aliu Abdulrazaq, submitted a report to the Presidency trying to exonerate himself from the scandal of N7.9 billion wasted on 6,500 contingency bed spaces in Makkah that were never used during the Hajj.
Also, Commissioner of Operations, Inspectorate, and Licensing, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, had equally written to the Presidency distancing himself from the alleged squander of over N15 billion on Masha’ir extra bed space.
Insiders at the Hajj commission have told our reporters that Mr Pakistan is currently going helter-shelter over the report writing scandal.
A federal lawmaker who spoke to this newspaper said the violation of the NAHCON Act itself is an offence punishable by sack and prosecution. He lamented that even at the National Assembly, the Hajj commission is facing similar problems.
“We have asked the commission to furnish us with some vital documents, but up to now they are still foot dragging. They are yet to submit the documents to us,” the lawmaker said.
In the same vein, a seasoned administrator told our reporters that failure to submit the report as stipulated by law is a self-indictment. He said the VP had no business querying the commission.
“What the VP should have done is to accept the contradictory report, attach his observations and recommendations, and forward it to the President.
Then, the President would look at it, sack the Professor Pakistan-led NAHCON board and direct the relevant authorities to prosecute them. This would have saved the Hajj sector,” the retired federal permanent secretary said.
The NAHCON boss and senior management officials are currently under investigation for alleged financial misconduct involving billions of naira.
Investigations include purported misappropriation of N15 billion on Masha’ir extra bed space, N1.6 billion on NAHCON staff spouses, and N8 billion on Makkah contingency bed spaces.
There are also claims of overspending, with reported excess expenditure of over 300 per cent of the approved budget; N25 billion spent on officials, staff, and board members; N1.4 billion on committee allowances; and the mismanagement of Madinah bed spaces, expanding from 11,000 to 18,000 for 41,000 pilgrims.
Technical Assistant (Media) to the NAHCON chairman, Mr Ahmad Mu’azu, previously told another newspaper that the 2025 Hajj report was unblemished. “As far as I know, the 2025 Hajj report I have seen has no such problems you mentioned,” he said.