By Olugbenga Salami

A faith-based registered civil society organisation, CSO, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has renewed its call on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON and the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards, SMPWBs to refund N19,228,000,000 excess payments made by more than 44,000 Nigerian pilgrims during the 2025 Hajj exercise.

According to the group, each pilgrim is entitled to an average refund of about N400,000 to N437,000, following a discrepancy between the exchange rate used to calculate the 2025 Hajj fare and the actual rate at which service payments were made.

IHR, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammad and released on Monday, said, “now that the 2026 Hajj is about to begins and 2025 Hajj accounts reconciliations has been completed, NAHCON should initiate prompt refund of the excess amount paid by 2025 Hajj pilgrims who registered before the official deadline.”

It recalled that the 2025 Hajj fare was pegged using an exchange rate of N1,600 per dollar, resulting in Northern pilgrims being charged $4,704.18 and their Southern counterparts $4,908.18, leading to overall costs exceeding N8 million.

The group, however, added that by the time NAHCON made payments for services between February 13 and 15, the official exchange rate had fallen to N1,507–N1,520 per dollar, leaving an unspent balance of about N80,000 – N93 per dollar per pilgrim.

It said that the exchange rates throughout February and March did not exceed N1,507 – N1,535 when the entire Hajj service payments were made, estimating that N437,000 is due to about 44,000 pilgrims who paid in full before the February 10 deadline.

The group also noted that NAHCON had previously acknowledged the possibility of refunds, stating it would act after the completion of the 2025 Hajj reconciliations, and therefore, urged immediate action now that NAHCON and SMPWBs have reconciled the 2025 Hajj operational accounts.

“We understand that the 2025 Hajj fare was computed using higher estimated rates to avoid the possibility of asking pilgrims to pay more. The payment for services was eventually affected with a lower exchange rate below the projected sum.

“Other countries where overpayments occurred have already refunded their pilgrims. Nigeria should do the same as a mark of transparency and accountability,” the group stressed.

IHR emphasised that the refund would help the affected pilgrims recover part of their expenses, especially given the economic challenges many faced in performing the pilgrimage.

It further urged NAHCON and the SMPWBs to jointly process the refunds and ensure timely disbursement to all eligible pilgrims.

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By David Owei, Yenagoa.

‎Coaches and Technical Officials of the Niger Delta Games would benefit from a training programme planned to improve their efficiency ahead of the 2026 Games.
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‎Sir Itiako Ikpokpo (KSM) Managing Director of Dunamis Icon Limited, the Managing Consultant for the Niger Delta Games, announced this on Channels Sports on Sunday.
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‎Responding to a question on how the games organisers plan to sustain the discovery of talents in the years ahead, Ikpokpo lamented the poor remuneration of coaches and wondered how their employers expect them to travel to communities to identify new talents.
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‎“We are working with partners, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and specifically for this event only, the Nigeria Local Content Development and Management Board to organise a workshop in January for Coaches and Technical Officials.”
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‎He urged governments in the states and at the federal level to fund sports the same way they are funding road and hospital projects.
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‎“For us to make any impact in sports, government must invest in sports infrastructure. It is good to build roads and hospitals, and it is also important that we invest in sports infrastructure.” Ikpokpo challenged the governments.
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‎Continuing on the challenge of infrastructure deficit, Ikpokpo, who is the chairman of the Delta State Athletics Association, lamented that schools are built in Nigeria without provisions for sports grounds.
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‎“The schools are the cradle of sports development, yet we have people building schools with no sports facilities.”
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‎He promised that the 2nd NDG scheduled to take place in Benin, the Edo State capital, will be an improvement on all fronts than the last edition.

By George Mgbeleke

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Sunday said it is prepared to join the ongoing protests by local contractors and pensioners across the country if the Federal Government fails to respond to their plight.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party condemned the Federal Government over its staggering debts to indigenous contractors and federal pensioners, saying it is a clear sign that the APC government does not care about the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.

The full statement read:

The ADC is deeply concerned by the MAY JOIN LOCAL CONTRACTORS, PENSIONERS PROTESTSplight of indigenous contractors who for several weeks have camped at the Federal Ministry of Finance with coffins, demanding to be paid for the work they have done.

We also stand in strong solidarity with pensioners who are now threatening to march naked in protest if the Federal Government fails to pay what it owed to them in long arrears of pensions.

No serious government allows things to deteriorate to the point where citizens must resort to coffins and naked protests before they are taken seriously. But this only further confirms that the APC government is insensitive and does not care about the damage that their actions or inactions do to the country’s image, and more importantly, to the livelihood of ordinary citizens.

What makes this even more troubling is that the same government responsible for this embarrassment keeps boasting about “meeting and surpassing revenue targets.” If our national finances are truly as strong as the government claims, why are contractors still owed over N500 billion for completed projects? Why are pensioners still waiting for increments and palliatives that were approved more than a year ago? You cannot claim revenue excellence while ordinary Nigerians are drowning in unpaid debts. Something is not adding up.

And, instead of this crisis, the APC-led government is busy distributing campaign vehicles, mobilising coordinators, and building structures for 2027. A government that cannot pay its own contractors and cannot honour its obligations to pensioners has absolutely no moral right to be campaigning for another term.
We have taken note of the untold suffering and humiliation that both the contractors and the pensioners have had to endure. This has to end now. The ADC is therefore prepared to march in solidarity with them if the government refuses to act immediately to address their plight.

ADC will continue to stand with all citizens who have been pushed into hardship by this APC-led federal government’s failures. Where this government destroys trust, we will rebuild it. Where they abandon their responsibilities, we will uphold them.”