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<\/p>\nAbuja<\/p>\n
By Philomina Attah<\/p>\n
The Afro-Arab Youth Council (AAYC), West Africa Secretariat, has pledged to collaborate with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to strengthen public advocacy, pilgrim welfare, and citizen participation in pilgrimage administration.<\/p>\n
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AAYC West Africa Coordinator, Amb. Akoshile Mukhtar, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja following the council\u2019s courtesy visit to NAHCON Chairman\/CEO, Amb. Ismail Yusuf.<\/p>\n
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Mukhtar said that the visit formed part of the council\u2019s broader mandate\u00a0 to build bridges between public institutions and citizens across Africa and the Arab world.<\/p>\n
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According to him, the AAYC seeks to complement government efforts by amplifying policies, encouraging public understanding, and providing constructive feedback to improve service delivery.<\/p>\n
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\u201dThe Afro-Arab Youth Council exists to promote peace, development, youth empowerment, and strategic partnerships.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOne of our core objectives is to provide a bridge between government institutions and the people by communicating policies in a manner that encourages public participation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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He praised NAHCON\u2019s leadership for ensuring smooth, hitch-free Hajj operations over the years.<\/p>\n
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Mukhtar said that the council was ready to deploy its extensive youth network across West Africa and the wider Afro-Arab region to support NAHCON\u2019s public enlightenment initiatives and showcase its achievements.<\/p>\n
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Responding, the NAHCON Chairman, highlighted the commission\u2019s mandate to deliver safe, seamless, and spiritually fulfilling Hajj operations for Nigerian pilgrims participating annually, making it one of Africa\u2019s largest pilgrimage operations.<\/p>\n
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He said that NAHCON worked closely with a diverse spectrum of stakeholders, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, security agencies, aviation operators, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), healthcare professionals, state pilgrims\u2019 welfare boards, and private tour operators.<\/p>\n
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He said that government support extended well beyond transportation and logistics to include comprehensive medical assistance in the field and consular support through the Nigerian Consulate in Jeddah for pilgrims encountering challenges in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
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The NAHCON boss also highlighted the commission\u2019s productive relationship with the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) in sharing information and refining pilgrimage governance nationwide.<\/p>\n
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Welcoming the proposed collaboration, Yusuf described young people as the bedrock of Africa\u2019s development and essential partners in policy advocacy.<\/p>\n
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\u201dYouth constitute the largest demographic in Nigeria and Africa.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTheir participation in governance and development initiatives is indispensable to building stronger institutions. We are deeply encouraged by AAYC\u2019s interest in partnering with us,\u201d Yusuf said.(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Afro-Arab Youth Council (AAYC), West Africa Secretariat, has pledged to collaborate with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to strengthen public advocacy, pilgrim welfare, and citizen participation in pilgrimage administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[367,371,368,308,369,370],"class_list":["post-463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","tag-hajjoperations","tag-inclusion","tag-nahcon","tag-partnership","tag-pilgrim","tag-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260731-WA0039.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}