Makkah Notebook (1)

Over the next two weeks, this column will reproduce, in two parts, the substance of a series of notes I sent from Makkah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Brother Abdulfattah Abdulmajeed, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHUON). The notes were a report on an assignment entrusted to the leadership of Nigerian tour operators: selecting the Saudi service providers who will serve the pilgrims our members convey for Hajj 2027. I set them down here, much as they were first written, so that the wider public — and, more importantly, our own members — may see what their representatives did on their behalf, and in what spirit.

The assignment did not begin in the holy city; it began in a virtual meeting of our National Executive Council (NEC) on Thursday, 17 September 2026. There, it was resolved that a strong and formidable team, drawn from the NEC, the lead companies, and the Board of Trustees, should travel to Saudi Arabia to negotiate with service providers and address other operational matters. Members were directed to be in Makkah by Tuesday, 22 September.

Almost all of us made it by the appointed day, barring a few who arrived later; and we continue to hope that those still in transit will join without further delay, for every day of our continued stay carries a cost. And that cost we bore ourselves — visa, tickets, hotel accommodation, upkeep, general logistics. Nobody paid our way; only Allah will recompense it. I mention this not to claim credit, but to convey the temper of the undertaking. A man who funds his own errand of duty to his people is unlikely to treat it lightly, and the trust reposed in us by those who sent us weighs upon every one of us.

There was, besides, a particular reason why the task fell to the operators themselves. In two earlier pieces in this column, I set out the running battle over who chooses the Saudi service provider. Its essence is this. The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has never quite conceded to Hajj operators the liberty to select their own provider. In 2025, the Commission itself charged AHUON’s leadership to source a reputable provider for Hajj 2026; our team, after travelling and inspecting, put forward Ar-Rifaadah and Ikraamud Daif; and our members, across all three zones, returned a nearly unanimous preference — 110 companies, 44 from Lagos, 36 from Kano and 30 from Abuja. Yet, at two Zoom meetings convened by the Commission in October 2025, our position was quietly set aside. The Commissioner of Operations spoke of an “unresolved disagreement” where there was none, and later claimed that operators had unanimously handed the choice to NAHCON — a claim I challenged, the recording being extant. A supposed National Assembly blacklist of a named company was invoked, though the hearing in question concerned a different entity; and in the end the Commission announced a provider of its own choosing after “consultations” that never occurred. The lesson was plain: where operators are not vigilant, providers may be foisted upon them — not always for the pilgrims’ good, nor for the industry’s stability, but for private advantage. It was against that background that our members resolved that, this time, those who bear the responsibility would travel, see, question and decide for themselves.

Our mission, therefore, was to negotiate, not to ratify. We were not in Makkah to append a seal to whatever a group might present as its preference. We would visit each provider, sit with them, inquire what they could offer our pilgrims and at what rate; we would listen, weigh and decide collectively, answerable to those we represent and, above all, to Allah.

The shortlist comprised four of the twenty-seven companies enlisted by NAHCON. In the order in which they appear on the document, they are Jabal Omar Development Company (26), Manasek Al Mashaer Company (5), Ithraa Al-Jood Company (3), and Rawaf Mina for Pilgrims Services Company (10). Appointments were fixed: on Saturday, 26 September, we would meet Jabal Omar at one o’clock and Manasek after Asr; on Sunday, 27 September, Ithraa Al-Jood at eleven o’clock and Rawaf Mina at one o’clock.

To keep the numbers manageable and avoid a crowd, the visiting team was confined to the BoT and NEC members present, one representative from each of the five lead companies, and one representative of HUTON. And before we set out, our elders — not least Alhaji Jelili Animashaun — delivered a timely admonition: that we should guard against disunity, for certain interests were prospering from our fragmentation and quietly stoking the embers of rancour among us. We must forgive one another and move on. It was wise counsel, and I pray we heed it.

Saturday, 26 September: Jabal Omar and Manasek

Our first call was at Jabal Omar Development Company, where we met the Vice-President, Mr Ahmad Abdulwahid, son of the former Chairman of the Mu’assasah. He was candid on one point: the company has not worked in Hajj services for three years. That hiatus, he insisted, need not make them inferior to others, for they retain a handsome assemblage of experts with decades of experience of serving African pilgrims. Their quota for Hajj 2026 is 92,000 pilgrims — a substantial figure. They undertook that, should Nigerian tour operators sign with them, the Nusuk cards of our pilgrims would be delivered to them before they left Nigeria, a promise of no small value.

It was here, too, that we were reminded of the architecture under which Nigerian operators work: the B2B2C model. Under it, whichever company we sign with — Jabal Omar included — cannot serve us in the Mashaa’ir; it can only handle ground services: reception in Madinah, transport between cities and movement to the Mashaa’ir. Another company must handle camp services in Mina and Arafah, most likely Ithraa Al-Khair or Ithraa Al-Jood. Mr Ahmad explained that firms such as Ithraa have invested heavily in the Mashaa’ir, and the Hajj Ministry accordingly gives them considerable leverage in camp operations. On the Kidana building for A-tent pilgrims, he put maximum tent occupancy at sixteen to eighteen — though he appeared uncertain of the exact number — at a flat SAR300,000 per tent. Strikingly, that rate holds whether the tent is full or half-empty. No rates for any camp have yet been published; he hoped they would be announced within the week. He maintained that Jabal Omar would offer better service than any competitor in Tent 3 (the tents are now numbered rather than lettered, so A is 1, B is 2 and C is 3; Tent D is extinct). Asked about urinals to ease queues at the conveniences, he said they are not permitted, so as to preserve space around the tents.

I set out the strengths and weaknesses as I saw them, and I mean no disparagement of any company. Jabal Omar’s strengths are plain: a large quota and a commitment to deliver Nusuk cards within Nigeria. Its weaknesses gave us pause: three years out of the field; an evident uncertainty about elementary figures; a rigid tariff that charges the same whether a tent is full or half-full; and, decisively, an inability to serve us in the Mashaa’ir, where camp services must be contracted to another company — an arrangement whose bitter fruit we tasted during Hajj 2026. Nor did it escape our notice that the meeting was held at a hotel, a neutral venue, rather than at their office, and that only two officers attended.

Our second meeting, with Manasek Mashaer Company, could not have been more different. Their team was plainly better prepared, receiving us warmly in a conference room of their office building. The Chief Executive, Mr Muhammad Hamza, led a full complement of executives who, one after another, broke down their operations. This is their fifth year in Hajj; the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah evaluated and ranked them third-best in pilgrim services during Hajj 2026, and their quota was 90,000. They do not deal principally in A-tent services, but can satisfy our needs as we desire, the more so as several on their team came from VIP services. In the last Hajj, their A-tent in the Kidana building in Mina held a maximum of sixteen. They are not the camp operator, but they have made standby arrangements for every service should the camp operator fail. They are the first such company with a direct office in Madinah — not through a proxy — covering the complete chain from airport meet-and-greet with hot meals to airport shuttle. In Makkah, they provide full service: reception from Madinah, round-the-clock transport between hotels and the Haram, ambulance and emergency services. In the Mashaa’ir, beyond the customary gifts, they customise each mattress with the pilgrim’s own name, so that before leaving Makkah each pilgrim knows the location and number of his tent; on arrival he finds his name written on his sofa bed. They have designed an application for installation on each pilgrim’s phone showing the bus location, the driver’s name and the vehicle’s arrival time; and should a pilgrim be lost, he need only type “I am lost” for the system to detect his location and reach him. Their luggage handling and tracing system is such that a pilgrim may proceed from the airport to his hotel and find his bags already in his room; and there will be a dedicated, multilingual call centre. On our request for a Hajj seat increase, Manasek said they could help — as they have for other countries — provided we meet certain conditions: we must show that we have exhausted the 10,000 slots presently granted us and have further passports on the system ready for visa processing; they will then write to the Hajj Ministry in our favour and guide us on what must be done within Nigeria.

We left Manasek impressed but not yet persuaded; for admiration is not the same as a verdict. Two providers had been seen; two remained. Next week, I shall take up the account from Sunday’s visits to Ithraa Al-Jood and Rawaf Mina, and from the house-cleaning meeting that followed on Monday, at which the team reached its decisions and fixed its next steps.