The Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima has inaugurated the 5th board of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) urging the members to bring their wealth of experience to bear by introducing innovative ideas to develop hajj operations in Nigeria.
Speaking during the inauguration of the new board at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, the Vice President urged members to synergize and bring fresh perspectives to the operations of the commission.
According to Sen. Shettima, serving on the NAHCON board is very important given that “Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam”.
“For you, beyond your appointment, it is a win-win situation because if you serve the pilgrims well, almighty Allah will compensate you in the hereafter. So, it is more of a religious duty than an administrative function,” he said.
According to him, “The president deliberately picked people with diverse backgrounds and untainted by their past so that they can bring fresh perspectives and innovations to Hajj operations in Nigeria and also interrogate the management structure of the organisation and bring out the best from the staff.”
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“As usual, you will encounter a lot of challenges, but I will urge you to fuse into a single force and achieve our desired result. I will urge you to wear your thinking caps and come up with robust solutions that will satisfy Nigerian pilgrims.
“It is a very tough assignment; this is the nature of pilgrimage. But I want you to have it at the back of your minds that you are rendering service to God and humanity,” he added.
He urged the new management to improve on the Hajj Savings Scheme to boost the number of pilgrims participating in the exercise across the country.
“There are States that have become success stories in the Hajj Savings Scheme, and there is a need for greater advocacy so that this scheme can be replicated across the country.”
Meanwhile, the board led by Malam Jalal Arabi held its first meeting at the Hajj House.
Arabi who expressed confidence in their capabilities, assured them of the same level of cooperation from the staff as enjoyed by him when he assumed duty in acting capacity in the last four months. He called upon NAHCON’s dedicated staff to extend their similar support to their new bosses in the pursuit of the Commission’s goals.
The newly appointed members of the Board are:
- Malam Jalal Ahmad Arabi — Chairman
- Aliu Abdulrazaq — Commissioner, Policy, Personnel, & Finance (PPMF)
- Prince Anofi Elegushi — Commissioner, Operations
- Professor Abubakar A. Yagawal — Commissioner, Planning & Research, Information Statistics and Library Services
ZONAL REPRESENTATIVES:
- Dr. Muhammad Umaru Ndagi — Board Member, North Central
- Abba Jato Kala — Board Member, North East
- Sheikh Muhammad Bin Othman — Board Member, North West
- Tajudeen Oladejo Abefe — Board Member, South West
- Aishat Obi Ahmed — Board Member, South East
- Zainab Musa — Board Member, South South
- Professor Musa Inuwa Fodio — Board Member/Representative Jama’atul Nasril Islam
- Professor Adedimizi Mahfouz Adebola — Representative/Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs
Also, the secretary of the Commission, Dr Abdullahi Rabi’u Kontagora, lauded the intellectual prowess of the new Board Members, describing them as a group with a good number of persons with diverse and advanced knowledge and experience as never witnessed in one single board of the Commission since inception.
He described the 5th Board of NAHCON as a new chapter of the Commission with its blend of experts starting with its head, Malam Jalal Arabi, from whom he had learned a lot of administrative skills within a short while. Dr Kontagora expressed optimism that their skills and knowledge would be deployed in the service of Allah, the federal government of Nigeria, and commitment to the welfare of Nigerian pilgrims.
