The Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) has pledged to overhaul holistically, pilgrimage to holy sites so that pilgrims will develop new mind set at the end of the day.
Speaking to journalists yesterday at the departure lounge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, when he led the first batch of intending pilgrims to Israel for the youth and family pilgrimage, the executive secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrimage Commission (NCPC), Rev Tor Uja, maintained that the pilgrimage process was due for major overhauling after 15 years.
He said, ‘’the process is due for major overhauling. I was in Israel two weeks ago and I told them I want to overhaul Christian pilgrimage and they said yes, that for 15 years, we have been doing the same thing over and over and even for them, it doesn’t make meaning. So, we intend that we will do overhaul on a holistic basis.” He said.
Uja revealed that part of the overhauling is for every Nigerian Christian going on pilgrimage to wear Nigeria.
“We want to portray Nigeria, we want to go as Nigerians and we have told the ground handlers in Israel that we don’t want all these face caps and t-shirts that carry all sorts of names like companies and tour guides. If they must give us shirts, it must be in Nigerian colours and they must carry the name of Nigeria on it otherwise nobody will take them or use them.” He added
The pilgrimage has three components, which consist of the youths, family and three are those who won the Support A Pilgrim To Israel (SAPTI) ticket for the flight.
Uja explained that the commission set out on a deliberate programme to ensure cost reduction to ensure that many Christians as possible, partake in Christian pilgrimage every year.
“Actually, this trip we are making, we have already reduced the costs by about 30 per cent and we intend to reduce it further as much as we can. We are holding meetings with all stakeholders, including air carriersd ground handlers.
And we are not only negotiating, but we are very firm that all the costs must come down.” He said
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