The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has responded to allegations that it violated its contractual agreement with Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi, a Saudi Arabian company contracted to provide services to Nigerian pilgrims during the 2025 Hajj.
The Chairman of NAHCON, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, addressed the claims in a statement issued on Tuesday. The controversy stems from a report by Daily Trust, which revealed that Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi had threatened to take legal action against the commission over an alleged failure to adhere to the terms of the contract.
NAHCON was accused of splitting the contract with another company, Ikram Diyafa, before the February 14 deadline set by Saudi authorities. Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi had originally agreed to serve as the sole service provider for Nigerian pilgrims, particularly in Muna and Arafah, as part of the 2025 Hajj arrangement.
The company reportedly wrote a letter to the Nigerian pilgrims’ affairs office in Makkah on February 17, 2025, stating that NAHCON’s actions violated the terms of the agreement. In the letter, the company gave the commission a 20-day window to resolve the issue, warning that failure to do so would lead to international arbitration.
In January 2025, NAHCON signed a contract with Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi to provide services for Nigerian pilgrims. However, just days before the payment deadline, the Forum of States’ Pilgrims Welfare Boards raised concerns that Professor Usman had unilaterally canceled the contract. NAHCON, however, denied these accusations, stating that the decision was made by Saudi authorities, not the commission itself.
Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi’s complaint centers on the fact that NAHCON allocated 26,287 pilgrims to the company, while the commission had announced that it secured accommodations for 52,544 Nigerian pilgrims. This meant that the remaining pilgrims would be handled by Ikram Diyafa.
In response to the claims, Professor Usman stressed that NAHCON had not received any official communication from the Saudi company. He noted that the commission had engaged its lawyers to address the situation and ensure all contract clauses were clarified and adhered to. He also stated that the issue had been resolved and that the final number of pilgrims would be confirmed through Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah platform.
The statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to a news story claiming that Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi has threatened to sue NAHCON to an international arbitration court due to the commission’s alleged “failure to adhere with terms of contract”. This is outrightly untrue.
“In the first place, we have not violated any clause of the agreement we entered with the firm. And to avoid such misconceptions, we instructed our lawyers to write to the firm with a view to ironing the clauses of the contact, which has since been done.
“In the letter we informed the firm that the final number of pilgrims coming from Nigeria for the 1446H Hajj season will be determined through the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s platform.
“We also brought to their attention that the contract was signed on 17/07/1446H, and as per Article (8), they are obligated from the contract signing date to “provide, determine, prepare, and arrange all necessary equipment and service requirements agreed upon in both qualitative and quantitative classification through the electronic path.
“The contract is a single, indivisible unit and any part should not be read in isolation. Instead, it should be interpreted as a whole. The final number of pilgrims coming from Nigeria for the 1446H Hajj season will be determined through the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s platform. The platform referred to here, as stated in Clause (5) of Article (2), is the “electronic path for foreign pilgrims.
“We could have cancelled the contract in addition to (not providing any pilgrims at all), but we preferred not to harm you despite your intention to harm us.
“NAHCON works with the confines of the law. We have made so much progress. Some people feel intimidated by the progress we are making. They are behind the report, but this will never derail us.”
