News Editor
By Olu Balogun
To prevent future recurrence of critical service failures observed during the 2025 Hajj operations, a civil society organization, CSO, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has called on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON and the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards, SMPWBs to immediately organize an appraisal of this year’s holy pilgrimage.
The organization, in a statement signed and released on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammed, urged NAHCON and relevant agencies to establish an open platform to review the 2025 operations.
IHR emphasised that the review should be a candid self-evaluation based on factual references, avoiding self-congratulations or political grandstanding.
While acknowledging improvements in some areas, such as the first phase of the airlift and services in Mina, the group highlighted the need for an investigation into sensitive failures in security and medical screenings.
Specifically, the IHR called for a probe into how dangerous criminals found their way into the pilgrims’ registration database without detection, which led to the arrest of wanted kidnappers during the outbound and return flights.
It also urged authorities to revisit the widespread complaints regarding inadequate medical attention both in Makkah and Madinah, and why the system failed to spot a nine-month-old pregnant lady from Zamfara State who gave birth during this year’s Hajj.
The statement also addressed the embarrassing situation surrounding the payment of allowances to some ad-hoc officials in Makkah and the uncoordinated flight manifest and issue of inadequate bed spaces in Madina, stating that these issues should be on the review agenda.
“Most state pilgrims’ accommodation during this year’s Hajj is located far away from the Grand Mosque in Makkah, thereby denying pilgrims the opportunity to regularly observe prayers at the Haram. There is a need to revisit pilgrims’ accommodation guidelines to prevent a repeat in the 2026 Hajj,” it stated.
The IHR noted that the 2026 Hajj preparations have already begun, and therefore, urged NAHCON to promptly implement the newly released calendar of events from the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
It stressed that the calendar allows no room for delays in implementing Hajj activities, particularly concerning services in Saudi Arabia and pilgrims’ registration.
