We did not breach any agreement entered – NAHCON replies Saudi company

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has denied violating terms of the contract  it entered with Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi, the Saudi Arabian company contracted to provide services to Nigerian pilgrims during the 2025 Hajj exercise.

Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, Chairman of the commission, said this in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Daily Trust had reported how the company threatened to take Nigeria to an international arbitration court due to the commission’s alleged “failure to adhere with terms of contract”.

NAHCON was said to have split the contract with Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi and Ikram Diyafa before the February 14 deadline set by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia elapsed.

In a letter dated 1446/08/17 (17/02/2025), addressed to the head of Nigerian pilgrims’ affairs office in Makkah, the company had said the commission breached its contract agreement that it would be the sole service provider for Nigerian pilgrims during the Hajj exercise, especially in Muna and Arafah.

It, therefore, gave the commission 20 days to normalise all the agreements signed by the two parties failing which it take the NAHCON to an international arbitration panel.

Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al-Mutawazi and NAHCON had signed an agreement to cater for Nigerian pilgrims during the exercise on January 17 2025, but the forum of states’ pilgrims welfare boards raised an alarm that NAHCON’s Chairman, Prof. Abdullahi Usman Saleh, had unilaterally cancelled the contract days to the closure of payment deadlines to agreed companies by countries participating in the exercise.

The NAHCON chairman had denied that he arbitrarily cancelled the agreement, saying it was the decision of authorities in Saudi Arabia.

According to a report by Hajj Reporters, Mashariq Al Dhahabiah Al Mutawazi had stated that NAHCON allocated 26,287 to it, even though the commission had announced it secured tent space for 52,544 Nigerians to participate in the Hajj exercise, meaning that the remaining 26,257 Nigerians would be catered for by the second company.