NAHCON Refunds N820m To 2017 Pilgrims

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) yesterday said it has released  N820,283,965 as refunds to State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Boards and agencies for 2017 Hajj operations.

A statement by Adamu Hassan Abdullahi of the Media Relations Unit said the refund exercise will be monitored by the appropriate security agencies nationwide.

The statement said: “The refunds consist of about N181million for pilgrims and officials of states that could not Travel for the Hajj and N209million being refundable deposits from the Ministry of Hajj.

“It also consists of refunds for catering services not rendered or poorly rendered for which the Commission did not pay the service providers  to the tune of  N46.1million.

”Other refunds consist of sums for poorly rendered tent-C services, faulty cooling systems at Arafat for which the total sum of N278million was demanded and collected by the commission from the organization responsible.

“The refunds also comprise N1.5million  for states that did not receive Zam-zam water.

”The refund, which was done in two batches, witnessed eleven (11) State Pilgrims Boards receiving a total of  N401,291,658.41 in December, 2017 while thirteen (13) Pilgrims Boards and Agencies received N418,992,307.77 as the second batch in 2018 after reconciliations.”