In a bid to ensure transparency and accountability, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) will closely monitor the disbursement of refunds to Sokoto pilgrims who participated in the 2023 Hajj exercise.

The refunds, provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), are for services not rendered during the pilgrimage.
Sokoto Pilgrims who participated in the year 2023 hajj will receive refunds.

Already the management of State Pilgrims Welfare Agency has since set up a committee to monitor the screening of all 2023 pilgrims from the state, entitled to receive the refunds.

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According to a statement made available to our Correspondent by the communication officer of the Agency, Danmalan Bashar Balarabe the development was communicated to stakeholders shortly after a meeting held at the conference hall of Agency on Friday.

The meeting was also held in preparatory to the commencement of sales of 2025 Hajj seats allocated to the state by NAHCON.

The chairman of Sokoto PWA Alhaji Aliyu Musa represented by the director administration, who also doubled as acting secretary of the Agency Ladan Ibrahim said the committee set up was saddled with task of ensuring close monitoring of every detail of the screening and payments exercise with a view to ensuring that every beneficiary received his or her entitlement.

He urged local government officials to form sub-committees at their levels, and warned them to strictly adhere to the rules of the disbursement.

He said anti-corruption agencies, EFCC, ICPC and security operatives were directly involved to monitor the payment exercise at all levels.

The Director Hajj operations Sokoto PWA Malam Abubakar Cika urged beneficiaries to provide necessary documents and information during the screening.

Each eligible 2024 pilgrim is expected to come along with his international passport, travelling documents, previous payments details, contact and account numbers among others.

The Custodian of the funds and Director of finance of the Agency, Alhaji Nasiru Abubakar assured immediate transfers to accounts of beneficiaries as soon as verification and clearance are successfully done by the committee.

The PWA committee members are,
Abubakar Cika, Director Hajj Operations as Chairman, 2 Assistant Hajj Registration Officers, Ibrahim Muhammad incharge of State Government officials and Amiru Yusuf incharge of pilgrims from PWA, Danmallam Bashir Balarabe Media Aid and Surajo Bello Sifawa who will serve as secretary of the committee.

At local government levels, the committee is headed by the Local Government Secretary as chairman, Former and present Assistant Hajj registration officers in each Local Government
and any other stakeholder with knowledge of the exercise to be assigned by the local government.