(Lagos, 13/11/06) The Muslim Public Affairs Centre, MPAC, called for fundamental and profound changes in the manner our pilgrimage affairs are managed after last year’s botched pilgrims’ airlifting operation when about 10,000 intending Nigerian pilgrims got stranded (See: HAJJ ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA: MPAC Report  & Appendix to the Hajj Report) Since last year, all too predictably, the respective agencies responsible for the shameful operation seem to have not committed themselves to enough positive actions to prove that their agencies were not happy with their own shoddy performances. This failure to embrace important reforms highlights once again the need for the Government to offer a clear alternative to the lethargic agencies. We therefore, just like the intending pilgrims, hold our breath as we prepare for the upcoming hajj operation without any sense of its commitment to better standards and transparency of operation. MPAC calls on all stakeholders in the current hajj operation to reflect on their decades of unacceptable and unsustainable performances and strive to make the care and welfare of our pilgrims (in Nigeria and in the holy lands) a moral and religious priority, creating for them better conditions as they exist for pilgrims in other countries. The position of the managers of the Pilgrims welfare agencies in the\n Nigerian Muslim Ummah will be determined not by their promises to adhere to better operating standards, but also by the manner in which they actually deliver on those promises.

MPAC once again rejects the idea that a select few Muslim politicians be put in charge of the pilgrims in the holy lands or appointed as a National Amir. The Federal Government is only helping to systematically damage the hajj institution when it appoints  politicians as leaders of a religious pilgrimage only on their qualification of being Muslim politicians. Also, the intending pilgrims must be religiously educated to curb improper conducts and excesses, and traveling information must be given to them through a coordinated public advertisement campaign. We see these as part of the duties of the agencies. Since last year, all too predictably, the respective agencies responsible for the shameful operation seem to have not committed themselves to enough positive actions to prove that their agencies were not happy with their own shoddy performances. This failure to embrace important reforms highlights once again the need for the Government to offer a clear alternative to the lethargic agencies. We therefore, just like the intending pilgrims, hold our breath as we prepare for the upcoming hajj operation without any sense of its commitment to better standards and transparency of operation.