The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Professor Saleh Usman, has strongly denied accusations leveled against him that he crippled the duties of the commission’s board, insisting that, “every member’s entitlements are accorded to him according to the rules of the office”.
Responding in a statement he personally signed, Professor Usman said, it is imperative for him to clear allegations and complaints by some non-executive board members of the Commission against him.
He said, “some of the claims include the Non-inclusion in procurement activities, purchase of official vehicles for non-executive members, not getting access to my office by these non-executive members or deliberate refusal to attend to them, non-payment of board members’ entitlements/Allowances,The role and status of Non-executive Board members.”
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“The claims of the non-executive Board members, in the involvement in the procurement activities. It is imperative to note that by virtue of their position, these non-Executive Board members have no any specific role, in either procurement Act or the NAHCON Act, particularly in Procurement and administrative activities.”
He noted that, “according to the provision of Rule 2 of the NAHCON Act clearly stipulates the status and function of all members of the Board. It says “The Chairman and Three full members of the Commission shall serve on full-time basis. The remaining six members, at least two of whom should be women, who shall serve on part-time basis.
Professor Usman said the claim of the Board member representing North East Alh Abba Jato, “whom I considered as the most honourable and humble, is also baseless. Before my coming to the Commission as the Chairman, it was the tradition to take 2 members of these non-Executive Board members to participate in the pre-visit contingent.”
” Therefore during the Commission’s first pre-Hajj visit to the KSA under my leadership Two (2) of these non-executive members namely: Haj Aisha Obi a representative of the South East and Alh Abba Jato a representative of the North East were nominated to participate and they actively participated in all the pre-visit exercise. They were also fully paid, all their travelling allowances, which includes Air Tickets, Visa, Estacode and Telephone & local transport). ”
He said these records are available in the Commission. Therefore there is no any time a Board member was co-opted at the Kingdom to partake in any of the Off-shore activities or sponsored himself/herself for any pre-Hajj visit, as claimed by Alh Abba Jato.
In the same vein, during the last Ramadan Umrah Monitoring exercise, Two (2) other non-executive members were equally nominated to partake in the exercise. They are: Dr. Tajuddeen Agbafe a representative of the South West and Sheykh Muhammad Bin Usman a representative of the North West and they were fully paid all their entitlements.
On the claim that, non-executive Board members were not given official vehicles, he cleared that, it is important to mention that, there is no any provision in the NAHCON Act or any other provision or approval that support this claim and the Commission has never bought any such vehicles to any member in the past.
“Also, on the claim that non-Executive members could not access entry into the Chairman’s office is not true. It is a well-known fact that, since I assumed office, I operates an open-door policy, not only for the Board members but for all the staff of the Commission, all stakeholders and even official visitors. In fact it was a big surprise to me to hear this allegation particularly from Mrs. A’isha Obi a representative of the South East Zone.”
” This member was to some extent recognized as part of staff of my office because of her frequent presence in the domain of the office. Most times she spent hours inside my office even after we have exhausted the official matters she brought.
“Similarly Dr, Tajuddeen Agbafe a member representing South West, is also a familiar face in my office. He equally brings issues and I always gave him all the necessary attention.Another baseless claim by these members, is that of non-payment the members’ entitlements. This allegation is also purported, because to the best of my knowledge there is no member that were denied any of his or her entitlements, either sitting, travelling of estacode Allowances and if there is any of such oversight, it was never brought to my desk for my attention.
The Chairman expressed his profound displeasure with the behavior and manner of some of these non-Executive members, for their deliberate inability to report or even advise him on any of these allegations. As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, I think I deserve to be informed on any of the above mentioned claims, to enable me take appropriate action accordingly.”
” However, to me I now felt that, those who are perpetrating all these allegations have no other motive than to distract the attention of the Commission in order to sabotage the already planned 2025 Hajj operation.”
He called on all Executive and non-Executive members of the Board, all members of NAHCON staff, State Executive of Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Boards, Commissions/Agencies, Private operators and other relevant stakeholders to come together, unite as a single NAHCON family and put all hands on deck, in order to have a successful and hitch free Hajj operation.
Professor Saleh Usman, commended President Tinubu and his Vice President Kashim Shettima for their believes in him and also their efforts in ensuring a 2025 hitch free Hajj operations.
He assured the President and his Vice president that the 2025 Hajj Pilgrimage would be one of the best the Country would be proud of.
