President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, (NAHCON), to immediately reduce the cost of the 2026 Hajj fares that it had recently announced.
Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Sen. Ibrahim Hadeija, made this known while briefing State House Correspondents after a meeting with the officials of NAHCON, which was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Recall that NAHCON had, after due consultations with all the relevant stakeholders, announced the 2026 Hajj fare as follows: Maiduguri-Yola Zone (Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba) will pay ₦8,318,336.67. Others are: Northern States will pay ₦8,244,813.67; while Southern States will pay ₦8,561,013.67, respectively.
However, Hadeija, said Tinubu felt the need for the Commission to look at the possibility of reducing the Hajj fare.
He said, ”As you know, the hajj fare component is about 95 and 96 percent foreign exchange based. The fares announced by the NAHCON were based on a very pessimistic exchange rate of ₦1,550. And the rates have continued to improve steadily with the Naira appreciating based on the effects of the economic reforms of the government taking place”.
Hadeija stated that the vice-president felt that, if during last Hajj pilgrimage, pilgrims paid between N8.5 to ₦8.6 million based on the negative exchange rate, now that the exchange rate had improved .
He continued: ”Therefore, we should also pass the benefits to them; and all the officers of the Hajj Commission are here, and they have been told to immediately go to look at more realistic exchange rates. If they apply that, we should be able to bring the Hajj fare to ₦7.6 to ₦7.7 million.
“The final figure will be announced in the next two days. But this is also dependent on very quick remittance of the funds from the State Muslims Pilgrim Welfare Boards.
”The faster the pilgrims pay their Hajj fares and they are remitted to the Hajj Commission, the faster they can pass it to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to buy the dollars for them. So, if we achieve that, we foresee a situation where pilgrims this year will have a very significant reduction in the Hajj rate”.
On his part, the Chairman, Kebbi Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Faruk Yaro, expressed gratitude to Tinubu and Shettima for their timely intervention.
Also, the Commission’s Secretary, Dr. Mustapha Mohammad, said, ” it is a welcome development and the lower the Hajj fare is, the more Muslims will have the opportunity of performing the Hajj. So, as directed by the vice-president, we will work tirelessly between today and tomorrow to see that we reduce it to an affordable rate whereby each and every Muslim will have the opportunity to perform this very important pillar of islam”.
