Tinubu orders NAHCON to reduce 2026 Hajj fares

President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to immediately reduce the 2026 Hajj fares it recently announced.

The Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Hadeija, made this known while briefing State House Correspondents after a meeting with the officials of NAHCON at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, October 6, 2025.

NAHCON had, after due consultations with all the relevant stakeholders, announced the 2026 hajj fares.

It said Maiduguri-Yola Zone (Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba) would pay N8,318,336.67.

The commission added that northern states would pay N8,244,813.67, while southern states would pay N8,561,013.67.

Hadeija said Tinubu felt the need for the commission to look at the possibility of reducing the hajj fare.

He stated: “This meeting was essentially called at the instance of the Vice President to look at the possibility of reducing the Hajj fare for the 2026 pilgrimage.

“As you know, the hajj fare component is about 95 to 96 per cent foreign exchange based.

“The fares announced by the NAHCON were based on a very pessimistic exchange rate of N1,550.

“The rates have continued to improve steadily with the naira appreciating based on the effects of the economic reforms of the government taking place.”

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Hadeija stated that the vice president felt that, if pilgrims paid between N8.5million to N8.6 million during the last pilgrimage based on a negative exchange rate, they should benefit now that the exchange rate had improved.

He said: “We should also pass the benefits to them and all the officers of the Hajj commission are here, and they have been told to immediately go to look at more realistic exchange rates.

“If they apply that, we should be able to bring the hajj fare to N7.6 million to N7.7 million.

“The final figure will be announced in the next two days. But this is also dependent on very quick remittance of the funds from the State Muslims Pilgrim Welfare Boards.

“The faster the pilgrims pay their hajj fares and they are remitted to the hajj commission, the faster they can pass it to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to buy the dollars for them.

“So. If we achieve that, we foresee a situation where pilgrims this year will have a very significant reduction in the Hajj rate.”

The Star