Commission Advocates Continuous Government Support To Christian, Muslim Pilgrims.

The Executive Secretary of Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission, (NCPC), Reverend Yakubu Pam, says Holy Pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims are key and they should continue receiving support from the corridor of power.

Rev. Pam notes that the Commission is coordinated by the Nigerian government is better than if the exercise is left in the hand of the private sector.

He said that many private sector enterprises had fallen apart because of a lack of management and that an agency like the Pilgrim commission was better managed by the government than the private sector.

Reverend Pam noted that the Commission had been working to build individuals and contribute positively to society due to its experiences.

“The good thing we know about this is that most people who have the experience are already helping in their localities by identifying with their churches and their communities. Again at the national level, we’ve not had any arrangement to bring everybody down here but we always send a message across, through JP who are well respected and contribute positively to the building of peace in Nigeria and also contribute positively in the policies of the country,’’ he said.

According to him “The Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission, (NCPC), is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating and superintending over the activities of Christian Pilgrimage from Nigeria to host countries like Israel, Jordan, Rome, Greece and of recent Turkey”

Rev. Pam said the main purpose of the establishment of the Commission was for the safety of the Christian Pilgrims.

“The Pilgrims are expected to come back and impart the knowledge on the citizenry as well as help the country in their status as Jerusalem Pilgrims which it would always be behind their names, JP, in fostering for peace,’’ he said.

According to him, “the Commission is also exploiting new areas like building a new site and reconnecting to have a relationship with the stakeholders who sponsor Pilgrims, those who bring pilgrims from the state levels and from the private companies”.

Pilgrimage significance

The Head of the Commission noted that “Pilgrimage is as old as man is. The word Pilgrimage is that all of us are Pilgrims. We come through this world and we go back, nobody is permanently staying. So the Word Pilgrim is a lesson to humanity that life is not permanent. Beyond that, following the footstep of Jesus Christ, he too at a time had to visit Jerusalem, and so many Old Testament and New Testament apostles were all playing hosts to Pilgrimage in Jerusalem. So Christianity in general, we have a lot to do with places and times in the history of the church. There are places where particular events have taken place that should be remarkable places whereby we need to go back there and re-invoke what has happened there like the place where Jesus was born, we celebrate Christmas every now and then, all those places are still there, the places of his crucifixion they are still there, where he rose from the dead is still there, and the places of his ascension to heaven are still there. All of these places are still there and they are very significant to every Christian. I don’t think there is any Christian that would say such places should not be visited. Jerusalem is here with men and not in heaven. I think is very important for people to know that biblically, there is a very good purpose for Pilgrimage”

The Executive Secretary said Pilgrimage was quite different from tourism noting that those specific places visited have specific messages and impart to the lives of the Pilgrims as well as high expectations from Pilgrims in terms of spiritual dividends and nation building.

On measures to curb a series of abscondment, Rev. Pam said that the issues were being handled effectively and the commission would continue in the fight against corruption.

Commenting further on the issue of alleged misconduct leveled against the leadership of the Commission by the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Adamawa State, Northeast Nigeria. Rev Pam said “we have already responded to that, that what the Chairman is asking for, we as Commission, our level of what we played in Adamawa was ’’a rescue mission” because they do not have the powers to take people for pilgrimages. The only government agency in Nigeria that has that power is the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission. The role of the State is to bring Pilgrims and we go there and screen the pilgrims. So we take them. But in this case, they all want to go there without recourse to us, and then we try to stop them, but before then they had already gone far by getting all their ground handlers and they did everything but then the Italian Embassy refused to give them Visas because it is only us that can recommend. Then the Governor had to call and intervene and pleaded. And so if that exercise fails, then it is the Adamawa’s problem, not us” he stressed.

On the recent conferment of Global Peace Humanitarian awarded to the Executive Secretary, he described the award as a booster saying it was accepted based on the spirit behind it.

Ahead of Nigeria’s 2023 General Election, Rev Pam said ”democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and it is our wish that all our transitional years of election from one democratic leadership to another become very successful, and that would happen if we beginning from me, I’m able to get prepared for the next one, to go and vote, and vote right, my vote counts, everybody’s vote counts, and my dear staff already, we’ve also been advocating, so we will do our best as a Commission” he added.

He encouraged well-meaning Nigerians to support Pilgrimage activities by sponsoring the less privileged.

Olusola Akintonde