Ahead of the 2026 Hajj, Saudi officials have drastically reduced the number of camp seats available to Nigerian pilgrims. The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has expressed concern that this cut could severely restrict participation the following year.
“NAHCON, States Discuss Hajj Costing and Other Critical Issues; Ministry Briefs NAHCON on Tour Operators,” the commission said in a statement released Thursday.
Only 66,910 lodging spots had been authorised on Saudi Arabia’s NUSUK Masar portal, despite Nigeria’s declared allotment of 95,000, according to the announcement, which was signed by Fatima Usara, NAHCON Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations.
“The Mashair space on the NUSUK Masar portal designated for Nigerian pilgrims is actually 66,910 slots for the 2026 Hajj,” NAHCON claims. This implies that although 95,000 spots were given to Nigeria, 51,513 slots are actually available for participation in the 2026 Hajj for States and all other authorities, with 15,397 going to authorised tour companies.
Nigeria’s underutilisation of its quota during the 2025 pilgrimage prompted Saudi authorities to impose the cut, the committee noted.
Although NAHCON claimed to have reserved 52,544 spots for state pilgrims in February 2025, only 41,218 were airlifted in accordance with the government quota. The overall number of participants reached 59,128 when an additional 18,000 pilgrims used private tour companies. Of the 95,000 spots made available by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, 35,872 were left unused.
Prince Anofiu Elegushi, NAHCON’s Commissioner of Operations, stated that the allocations for 2026 would be evaluated in light of each state’s performance in the previous exercise during a meeting with representatives of State Pilgrims Welfare Boards on Thursday.
Elegushi cautioned that states who did not meet their quotas last year would be the most impacted by the new adjustment, which would reverse earlier allocations based on each state’s utilisation during the 2025 Hajj.
The Commission further disclosed that it convened a virtual conference with representatives of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, wherein it was instructed to guarantee that each group of tour operators has a minimum of 2,000 slots and to register them on the NUSUK platform.
Professor Abdullahi Usman, the chairman of NAHCON, asked all parties involved to cooperate in order to prevent a crisis in the lead-up to the pilgrimage in 2026.
Usman urged state executive secretaries to take medical screening seriously because Saudi Arabia places a high value on it, saying, “Unity in this assignment is crucial if Hajj 2026 must succeed.”
In order to alleviate the financial strain on prospective pilgrims, Usman said that negotiations were underway to negotiate reductions in specific cost components, such as cargo handling expenses, in response to worries about the rising cost of the Hajj brought on by foreign exchange volatility.
He issued a warning, nevertheless, that service providers’ fees “will not be arbitrarily reduced,” since this could lower the standard of services provided to pilgrims.
Dr. Adetona Adedeji, a board member representing the Central Bank of Nigeria at NAHCON, has promised to work with the CBN to lower the 2% fee now applied to pilgrims’ transactions.
The council also decided that in order to take advantage of favourable exchange rates, money should be sent to the CBN on a regular basis as it is received from the states.
NAHCON urged state officials to create earlier internal deadlines in order to guarantee full payments prior to the December 21 deadline for remittances. Plans for a national awareness-raising campaign to emphasise how urgent it is to reach the deadline were also revealed.
The Commission affirmed that international aviation luggage norms would be used for the 2026 Hajj, permitting each pilgrim to bring one handbag and two 23 kg checked bags.
Additionally, it reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s stringent medical laws, stating that people with active cancer undergoing chemotherapy, dementia, neurological or psychiatric conditions, organ failure, tuberculosis, or other communicable diseases would not be allowed entry into the Kingdom.
