NAHCON Chairman, Secretary Under EFCC Investigation for N90bn Hajj Subsidy Mismanagement
The Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Jalal Arabi, and the commission’s secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, are currently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of mismanaging a N90 billion 2024 Hajj subsidy.
According to a document sighted by The PUNCH, the EFCC investigation revealed that Arabi fraudulently overpaid himself and others the necessary operational cost. The anti-graft agency recovered a total of SR314,098 from the NAHCON chairman and other ranking officials.
The approved 2024 Hajj operational cost for the Chairman/CEO, Commissioners, Secretary, and Directors/Chief of Staff in the 2024 budget are stipulated as $4,250, $12,750, $3,825, and $15,300, respectively. However, the EFCC alleged that Arabi fraudulently overpaid himself, the commissioners, secretary, and directors for the 2024 Hajj operational cost.
The document revealed that Arabi was entitled to SR15,929 but received SR50,000; three commissioners who were meant to get SR 15,929 each received SR 40,000 each. The secretary got SR 30,000 instead of SR14,336. Directors/Chief of Staff received SR 30,000 instead of the SR2,550 they were entitled to.
The EFCC has recovered estacodes paid to staff who did not undertake study tours and payments made to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd for services that were not rendered. A total of SR 1,026,000.00 and SR 1,780,019.99, being purported 7.5% of consultancy paid to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd for debt recovery, was also recovered.
The document stated that all supporting documents for payment of the consultancy services, including the Executive Chairman’s approval, were fraudulently backdated to January 23, 2024, to enable the payment of the sum of SAR 780, 019, 59 to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd on April 14, 2024. The first suspect, Jalal Arabi, confessed that the consultant did not render any services.
The commission’s secretary slotted the approval for the payment of the 7.5% consultancy to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd in the minutes of the Expanded Transitional Exco meeting as item 10 under AOB to enable the perfection of the documentation to steal the funds.
The EFCC has also discovered that SR 8,614,175.27 cash withdrawal out of the N90 billion released by the Federal Government to the commission is yet to be accounted for by NAHCON.
The investigation into the commission’s activities since 2022 has led to the recovery of estacodes paid to staff who did not undertake study tours and payments made to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd for services that were not rendered.
