The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Ambassador Ismail Yusuf, on Monday, said Hajj fares may increase in the next three years, following newly introduced reforms by Saudi Arabia.
He announced this at the National Hajj Commission media roundtable on 2026 Hajj policy reforms in Abuja.
According to him, Saudi Arabia wants the Hajj operation to be run by private companies, no longer by government boards.
He explained that Saudi Arabian authorities plan to cancel the Grade D package service, which Nigerian pilgrims have relied on to make Hajj cheaper.
“If you understand the demography of pilgrims in Nigeria, you know that 80 to 90% of pilgrims from Nigeria are poor people who, out of commitment to their religion, save over time to be able to perform the sacred duty. So the majority of this class falls within the grade D package.
“Moving forward, the Saudi government is cancelling the grade D package because they believe that anybody who comes to perform Hajj should have the best experience.
“They are thinking about phased workforce training, so that anybody who is a Hajj administrator should also be professional.
“No room for ad-hoc people handling Hajj administration anymore. There are going to be specialised training on logistics, on medical services, disaster management, and crowd control. All of that is going to be included in the packages for training.
“And they expect that unless you get certification for that, you are not going to be accepted as a Hajj manager,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria was initially asked to give 98% of her slots to private companies immediately; however, the decision was reviewed to 30% in 2027 and the remaining to be spread across 2028 and 2029.
“The Saudis had told us that the 50,000 quota they gave us was sacrosanct,” he said.
He explained that Nigeria had an obligation to appeal for more slots because of the number of Nigerians interested in performing the pilgrimage.
“We had an obligation to our nationals to appeal, which we did. Unfortunately, the Saudis turned down our requests,” he said.
Yusuf said the Saudi authorities attributed the decision to capacity utilisation and the fact that preparations for the pilgrimage had already gone far.
He, however, said Saudi Arabia had promised to review Nigeria’s allocation in the following year based on the country’s performance in utilising its current quota.
“They however promised that next year they will consider adjustment in our quota depending on how we perform this year,” he said.
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