The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Chairman, Malam Ismail Yusuf, says Saudi Arabia is undertaking major reforms to Hajj administration under its Vision 2030 programme.
Yusuf disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a media roundtable on the Kingdom’s 2026 Hajj policy reforms and their implications for Nigeria.
He said the reforms were designed to improve efficiency, strengthen regulation and enhance the experience of pilgrims, adding that Saudi Arabia was moving from a state-managed system towards a more commercialised, digitised and regulated framework.
“The whole idea of having this media interaction is for Nigerians to know that there is a structural shift in Hajj arrangements by Saudi Arabia,” Yusuf said.
According to him, the changes form part of Saudi Arabia’s broader plan to accommodate up to 30 million pilgrims by 2030 while maintaining safety and operational standards.
He identified the shift towards a Business-to-Business (B2B) model as one of the major changes, saying Saudi Arabia was moving away from direct dealings with government-run national pilgrimage welfare boards.
“Instead, it is forcing international Hajj delegations to migrate to the business model,” he said.
Yusuf said there had been an initial proposal to move 98 per cent of Nigerian pilgrims to the tour-operator model, describing the transition as one of the most significant changes under the new policy.
He also said Saudi Arabia had revised the structure of Hajj service packages covering accommodation, transportation and feeding.
According to him, the previous system offered several categories based on cost and service levels, including five-star, four-star, three-star and lower-cost options.
Yusuf said the lower-cost category had been particularly important to Nigeria because many pilgrims save for years to perform Hajj.
“If you understand the demography of pilgrims in Nigeria, you know that 80 to 90 per cent of pilgrims from Nigeria are poor people who, out of commitment to their religion, save over time to be able to perform the sacred duty,” he said.
He said Saudi Arabia was eliminating the Grade D package to ensure that pilgrims received an acceptable standard of service.
“Moving forward, the Saudi government is cancelling the Grade D package because they believe that anybody who comes to perform Hajj should have the best experience,” Yusuf said.
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The NAHCON chairman also highlighted professional training and certification as key components of the reforms.
He said Hajj administrators would be required to undergo specialised training in logistics, medical services, disaster management, crowd control and pilgrim welfare.
“All that is going to be included in the packages for training, and they expect that unless you get certification for that, you are not going to be accepted as a Hajj manager,” he said.
Yusuf said uncertified individuals would not be allowed to perform official Hajj management functions, although they could undertake the pilgrimage as ordinary pilgrims.
He further identified digitalisation and centralisation as key elements of the new system, with the Nusuk application and Masaar platform playing central roles.
“All visa applications, hotel bookings, flight confirmations, entry permits, including access to the holy sites, must be secured and paid for exclusively through a digital portal,” he said.
Yusuf stressed that Nigeria would need adequate digital infrastructure and technical capacity to ensure that its pilgrims were not disadvantaged by the new requirements.
He also highlighted strict operational deadlines set by Saudi authorities, saying they were necessary to manage the complex logistics involved in organising Hajj for millions of pilgrims.
He said the deadline for uploading data for the 2027 Hajj had been fixed for Sept. 26, 2026, with Saudi authorities indicating that the date would not be extended.
Yusuf urged Nigerian stakeholders to understand the implications of the reforms and ensure timely registration, documentation, payments and other preparations for the pilgrimage.
