For years, even before the establishment of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria(NAHCON) in 2006, missing and misplacement of pilgrims’ luggage by airlines, has remained an issue pilgrims suffer which has left many with bitter memories of the once in a life time religious trip to the holy land. This is because it takes some affected pilgrims a long time to recover missing luggage while others never get to see such luggage ever again and never get compensated when such occurs. This was the case of some pilgrims that performed the 2011 pilgrimage to the holy land and Maryam Garba Hassan writes on this phenomenon.
For Muslims, there is no experience as thrilling as Hajj. It is one of the five compulsory pillars of Islam and an obligation expected of a Muslim once in his/her lifetime provided one has the financial, physical and mental capability to do so.
However, for a typical Nigerian Muslim, from a country rated as the most religious on the African continent, hajj is rarely limited to the once-in-a-lifetime mandate obligated under religious requirements.
Like any other trip, embarking on a pilgrimage to the holy land to perform hajj also has its challenges, one of which is the issue of pilgrims’ missing and misplaced luggage. This problem has over the years exposed the nature of disorderliness in our society which has in turn slipped into the country’s airline industry especially the designated carriers for the yearly exercise.
This problem is among the many challenges the exercise is presently facing in the country despite the fact that the Hajj Commission does early preparations to achieve a hitch free pilgrimage every year.
For years, the story of missing and misplaced luggage was identified with airlines operators in the country.
The hardship, affected pilgrims go through is better imagined than experienced as they are often subjected to searching for their luggage in airports, local government pilgrims’ welfare offices up to state and national centres.
Most of these pilgrims use their life savings to embark on the holy trip since they have to buy gifts and souvenirs for family members and friends only to be subjected to the trouble of searching for their luggage containing these items.
Last year’s story tells of same sad tales for pilgrims that embarked on the yearly pilgrimage. As recently reported in this paper, Bauchi state 2011 pilgrims airlifted to Saudi Arabia by Kabo Air had to wait for three months to get their luggage transported from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, without a public explanation either by the NAHCON, state pilgrims’ board or the airline operators untill after the story was published.
According to the Public Relations Officer of Kabo Air, Malam Aminu Hamza, who volunteered information to Peoples Daily months after the bitter experience, part of the delay in the transportation of the luggage was due to lack of waivers for bulky luggage to be taken into the King AbdulAziz International Airport, Jeddah, which he said is provided to the airlines by the government.
Hamza further explained that the situation compelled the airline to convey some of the luggage to Nigeria from Jeddah through six passenger flights which still did not cover the number of luggage turned in by pilgrims.
“We had to reduce more luggage from the six flights that conveyed some of the luggage to Nigeria which was transported through passenger aircraft, as our priority was to make sure that pilgrims arrive Nigeria safely and within the dead-line given to airline operators by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)”.
He further disclosed that the airline talked with the government on how the four designated airline carriers for last year’s Hajj could come together and work out modalities on how the luggage abandoned in Jeddah can be transported to Nigeria, adding that the idea did not work out. This he said made Kabo Air to charter a Saudi Air Cargo to transport the luggage home. The goods arrived two weeks ago and have since been distributed to different states.
He added that the Saudi Air Cargo was contracted for the job but had to reschedule its arrival as a result of security challenges facing the nation.
On whether the luggage that arrived the country was for all the Nigerian pilgrims airlifted by the four carriers, Hamza said he was not aware but that there were some luggage belonging to Max Air passengers found in the cargo.
According to him, “once airlines don’t get waivers up to the end of the month for the airlifting of pilgrims back to their countries at the end of the exercise, the airport authority take such luggage to Umrah and Hajj Tarmac located at the other wing of the airport where it would be kept till the next year Umrah and hajj when the section would be reopened. This is why some pilgrims’ luggage sometime takes up to a year before it gets to the owners”.
However, according to some of the 500 medical personnel which made up the National medical team to last year’s hajj, airlifted to Mecca by Max Air, the medical team’s luggage is also yet to arrive the country.
They charged that none of the airline officials offered any explanation for the delay, missing or misplaced luggage.
A medical doctor with a government owned hospital in the FCT, who does not want her name in print for fear of reprisal actions said; “This was my first time of going on Hajj but I feel sad that my luggage and that of my colleagues are yet to be found, some of us used their allowances to buy things for sale in Nigeria, but here we are months after the completion of the hajj exercise our luggage are yet to be found”, she said.
When this reporter contacted the Head, National Medical Team to Mecca, Dr. Ibrahim Kana to confirm the claim, his phone was switched off up to the time of going to press.
Several calls put to Max Air Public Relations Officer, one of the airlines accused of delaying the transportation of pilgrims’ luggage from Jeddah to Nigeria, Malam Ibrahim Dahiru, was not answered up to press time.
In the last two years, NAHCON has embarked on the sensitization of pilgrims on the need to change their attitude towards non compliance with the agreed 10 kilogram (kg) hand luggage allowed on board and 40kg box, but due to non compliance most often than not, there are delays during screening and passengers getting on board without their luggage with the subsequent loss of space slot allocated to airlines by the Saudi aviation authority.
During the 2010 hajj, the Sultan of Sokoto and National Amirul Hajj, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, told journalists in Jeddah that the Commission would ensure that pilgrims leave the holy land to Nigeria with their luggage and true to his words while some pilgrims’ luggage arrived the country weeks before their return, others arrived with their luggage.
The question is why was this not sustained in 2011?
It is pertinent to note that Islam places high premium on sincerity of purpose which required Muslims to perform all rituals during hajj for the sake of Allah as a precondition for their acceptance, but this is sometime not the case for most Nigerian pilgrims who while in the holy land go on shopping sprees, buying more than the required kilogram each pilgrim is entitled to travel with.
This attitude of some pilgrims can be said to be partially responsible for the missing or misplaced luggage.
Peoples Daily investigations however, revealed that airlines sometimes mix-up luggage of different states in an aircraft when transporting them back to the country.
A staff of one of the country’s airline operators who didn’t want his name in print said “a factor that also contributes to the problem in question is that some of our colleagues place priorities in transporting luggage belonging to their friends or officials of both the national and state pilgrims’ welfare boards which mostly exceeds the required kilogram a pilgrim is entitled to.
“By the time we carry 10 to 12 officials’ luggage aboard a passenger flight which has the capacity of 200-250 passengers, not all pilgrims on that plane will have space for their luggage to be transported along with them which sometimes result to misplacement of pilgrims’ luggage”, the source stressed.
Hajiya Binta Hassan Diwa and Hajiya Hauwa Hassan Labiru, both 2008 pilgrims from Plateau state, said four years after their trip to the holy land through Max Airline, formerly Mangal Airline, they are yet to get their 40kg bags after many trips to the state pilgrims’ welfare board.
“We had to give up after several visits to the Plateau state Muslim Pilgrims’ Board without success. What hurt us more is that we used a chunk of our BTA to buy gifts for our loved ones who never get to receive them”, one of them said.
She added that they were told different stories on the whereabout of their luggage on each visit to the board, and that the officials never showed commitment to their plight.
Another victim, Hjajiya Hauwa Abubakar from Nasarawa state also said that three years after one of her numerous trips to the holy land she has not found her box.
In reaction to the report on pilgrims’ non receipt of their luggage, NAHCON through its spokesman, Uba Mana, said that part of the delay in the transportation of the 2011 pilgrims’ luggage to Nigeria was caused by security concerns and delay in security clearance of the pilgrims’ 40kg baggage during the first week of the in-bound flight by Saudi Arabian General Aviation Authority.
Mana said, other reasons for the delay include the recent fuel subsidy strike in Nigeria and the weather.
Six years after the creation of the Commission, it should have developed a more effective and enhanced means of addressing the issue of delay in transporting luggage of the ever growing number of Nigeria’s pilgrims in time to ensure that missing luggage are compensated for by the airlines after they are proved beyond reasonable doubt that the claim(s) are genuine. This is the argument of some stakeholders who spoke to our reporter.
It should also ensure that Basic Travelling Allowance (BTA) which almost marred last years’ early preparation of the exercise is also addressed.
The Commission needs to treat the challenge posed by delayed pilgrims’ luggage with seriousness, by ensuring and guaranteeing the safety of about 89,000 pilgrims’ luggage every year to avoid getting misplaced or missing. It also has to make early arrangements and make provisions for waivers to airlines to complement its effort to ensure pilgrims get first class treatment during the exercise.
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