National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Headquarters
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, has assured that all the 2,717 intending pilgrims for the 2025 hajj that were denied visas shall receive a full refund of the payment made for the just concluded pilgrimage.
A preponderant number of intending pilgrims affected were those who failed to complete their Hajj payments before the 19th May 2025, when the registration portal was eventually closed by the government of Saudi Arabia.
It will be recalled that NAHCON issued several reminders to intending pilgrims about the initially announced deadline for visa application, 19th of April 2025, being the date for the closure of the visa portal, and also urged all to make payment.
According to the commission’s official report, four extensions for the Saudi Arabia visa portal were sought and granted between 19th April to 19th May in order to effect late registration of pilgrims yet, some did not make complete payment.
Subsequent requests and diplomatic overtures to open the closed visa portal for the fifth time were rebuffed, and 2,717 intending pilgrims were caught in the web of procrastination. And perhaps other very cogent causes for delay
However, as of mid-February, far ahead of the deadline, the commission had secured hygienic and comfortable accommodation for more than 50,000 pilgrims in a place near the sacred sites in Makkah.
An official report by NAHCON’s office in Saudi Arabia released a statistic that, “as at 25th May, a total of 34,647 Nigerian pilgrims had arrived in Makkah”, an indication that extra rooms were available due to an inadequate number of pilgrims to fill the reserved accommodation.
Hence, a statement by NAHCON’s Assistant Director of Information and Publication, Fatima Usara, said the commission experienced a shortfall of a total of 2,717 intending pilgrims whose visas applications came in after the Saudi Arabia visa portal was closed.
Usara, however, assured that all those affected by the late registration of visas shall have their money fully refunded without deduction of any penalty.
She said reconciliation will be done between the Commission and airlines, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, and thereafter all unused funds will be returned.
She added that when the funds are released, NAHCON will disburse based on the categories of affected pilgrims.
Curious about the sum to be disbursed and possible computation, it is conjectured that the average of the three different fares that the commission fixed for the three different regions.
The Fare for pilgrims from the south was fixed at N8,784,085.00k, the fare for pilgrims from the north, N8,457,685.00k, while the fare for pilgrims from Bornu and Adamawa was N8,327,126.00k; hence, N8.5m may be conjectured as a median for the computation.
A rough calculation of the amount expected to pay for the refund is circa N23bn.
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