THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday, July 30, drilled the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Mallam Jalal Arabi, over alleged mismanagement of this year’s Hajj exercise funds.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Arabi was at the office of the anti-graft agency to answer questions on how the Commission spent the N90billion subsidy for the exercise, following petitions against him and the management over alleged funds mismanagement, especially during the hajj exercise.

It was gathered that Arabi was at the agency to provide detailed explanations on how NAHCON managed the funds allocated to it for the pilgrims, with a source saying: “As of now, NAHCON chairman has been invited, he is already being interrogated by our crack detectives to provide explanations on some issues that borders on allegation of funds mismanagement in the Commission.

“The investigation is ongoing; it is dated back to 2021 when the issue of fraud in the commission became messier. There is an ongoing investigation on alleged misappropriation of N20 million before now and some officials of the Commission were invited for questioning.”

The source said three directors of the Commission have been invited to explain what they know about the issue, adding: “Now, the Chief Executive Officer has been invited to explain how the funds allocated to the Commission was being spent.

“The investigation will continue until EFCC gets to the root of how the funds allocated to the commission were spent.”

Arabi may not be detained if there is a guarantee that he would make himself available when asked to do so, the source stated, adding: “He may not be detained, but will be asked to come back if the need be at the end of the day, but presently, he is still being interrogated.

“The CEO has been invited and he has honoured the invitation; he will go back, there is no reason to keep him in the custody when he is already cooperating.

“The new EFCC is operating in accordance with international best practices; you can see that most of the people invited are always allowed to go if they comply,” he said.

When contacted, EFCC’s spokesman, Mr. Dele Oyewale, promised to revert over the invitation and other details, which he had not done as press time.

    Recall that Arabi had at a news briefing on Monday, July 29, given the breakdown of how the Commission spent the N90billion subsidy, saying each pilgrim was supported with N1,637,369.87 from the N90 billion, except for pilgrims under the Hajj Savings Scheme (HSS), who enjoyed more.

“How to spread this N90billion equitably to such a degree that registered pilgrims would not have to pay additionally to the N4.9 million was tough.

“At first, the N90billion would only cater conveniently for about 18,000 intending pilgrims out of the about 50,000 duly registered persons as at March 22, 2024.

“Subsequently, appreciation of the Naira to N1, 474.00 in May 2024 brought respite to our calculations, as it meant a reduction from what the registered pilgrims would have to top up,” he explained.