Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim
Self-sponsorship increases by 50%
The federal government has deplored the refusal of six northern states including Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Jigawa, Yobe and Kano to sponsor Christian pilgrimage from their states despite having significant percentage Christian population.
Self-sponsorship increases by 50%
The federal government has deplored the refusal of six northern states including Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Jigawa, Yobe and Kano to sponsor Christian pilgrimage from their states despite having significant percentage Christian population.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius
Anyim, disclosed this during the official submission of 2014 Nigeria
Christian Pilgrims Commission (NPC)’s Report by the Chairman of the
Commission, Primate of Anglican. Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, and
appealed to them to have a change of heart.
Anyim assured that government would continue to persuade the state
governors to do the needful, saying that “Christian pilgrimage is not
tourism but a religious exercise that will benefit the individuals and
the state.”
He commended the commission for a job well done, adding that the
pilgrimage project has taken a dimension that nobody expected before.
He said: “It has Easter, family, presidential and now the youth
component. Pilgrimage is not sight seeing, tourism or excursion, the
presidential pilgrimage alone has created diplomatic access. For the
youth pilgrimage, the more young people are involve the more our country
will be better.
“I am happy that the number of self sponsorship has increased by 50 per
cent, this is something that couldn’t have been imagine years back. It
will be government’s interest that the self sponsorship increases as
that will help government cut down its expenses also.
“Today, we no longer talk of abscondment, this year we had zero
mortality, these are all things to be proud of and we congratulate you
for this.
“I am astonished that the BASA agreement has not been activated, but I
promise to work with the Executive Secretary of the Commission to get it
resolved as soon as possible,” he added.
“On the late payment by some states, you will need to do more on
sensitisation, the states involved should be notified on time as most of
them I’m sure were part of the presidential pilgrimage hence did not
have time to clear the payment before leaving.
“On the states that did not sponsor Christian pilgrims from their
state, there should be a continuous efforts to persuade them from NCPC,
government will also continue to its best,” Anyim assured.
The former Senate President also promised to ensure the Nigerian house
project in the State of Israel materialises, assuring also that the
2015 calendar would be approved as soon as it gets to his desk.
Also speaking on the non-sponsorship of Christian pilgrims in their
state, Okoh said the commission was not indicting them but only making
appeal.
“Some states in the North are yet to yield to sponsor pilgrims from
their states, six states in the north did not participate in the 2014
pilgrimage,” he said.
The affected states are well known for sponsoring large contingent of
Muslim pilgrims annually but are yet to consider the Christian component
of their respective populations.
Speaking further, the primate also made case for the Nigerian House in Israel to come on stream.
He said though it has been in the pipeline for past six years it was
yet to materialise, urging that it will make things easy especially for
those on the presidential component of the pilgrimage.
Okoh commended the SGF who has made official communication easy, adding
that this contributed to the success of the exercise last year.
While urging the federal government to approve the commission’s 2015
calendar of activities, Okoh said the commission has introduced youth
pilgrimage which will commission in this year.
According to him, “Youth pilgrimage is an addition to what we already
have - Easter pilgrimage, family pilgrimage and the general pilgrimage
in October. It will encourage young people and they will be exposed to
trainings during the period.”
To help the commission remain solvent and self-sustaining, Okoh said
the commission is going into partnership with the National Lottery
Commission to encourage people win slots to participate in any of the
pilgrimage component of the commission.
“We are planning partnership with National Lottery Commission to
further enhance our drive in sustenance. As soon as all things are in
place the details would be made available to the public, it will help
people also win slots to go on pilgrimage,” he said.
Meanwhile, the report presented by Okoh contained the successful conduct of the 2014 pilgrimage to Isreal, Rome and Greece.
He said during the exercise, no single mortality was recorded neither
was there any case of abscondment, while self-sponsorship increased by
50 per cent.
According to the clergy, a total of 23 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) took part in the pilgrimage in 2014.
He said: “We made progress in the year 2014 pilgrimage, we had 50 per
cent increase in self sponsorship. With this development we are no
longer afraid of government pulling out of sponsoring pilgrimages.
Pilgrim Center was also commissioned and made the coordination of the
2014 pilgrimage easy and a success.
“We covered 27 states in the course of our duty. We met governors and
stakeholders, that contributed to the increase in the number of those
who participated in the 2014 pilgrimage.”
“Unlike the previous year, we did not record any mortality, none died
in 2014, only minor illness and they were all treated and they all
recovered very well.
“We were also able to reconnect with the European Union (EU) for the
issuance of Schengen visa because of this we were able to move people to
Greece and Rome and this was facilitated by the Italian Embassy,” he
added.
Okoh who said he was just giving a bird eye’s view of the activities of
the commission in 2014, listed some of the major challenges that they
were confronted with in 2014 to include the non-implementation of the
BASA-agreement hence the was no direct flight to the destination and the
issue of insecurity.
Speaking further, decried the fact that despite the early notification
of states on the calendar of NPC for pilgrimage, some states were still
not able to pay up and those who did was so late in coming.
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