The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Rev. Tor Uja has said that the Commission has identified five red states where abcondment of pilgrims are prevalent and would beam its searchlight on those states.
He disclosed this in Abuja during the submission of the 2017 pilgrimage report to NCPC by members of the Security Committee.
According to the NCPC boss, “any pilgrim that will travel from the five red States must pass through the eye of the needle”.
He informed that the Commission has introduced a number of measures to discourage absconders during pilgrimage. His words “we have set up strategies to ensure that no pilgrim abscond in Israel”.
He explained that such strategies include compulsory screening for all intending pilgrims as well as ensuring that those who would screen the intending pilgrims must go through training and retraining.
He also stated that as part of the measures to stop abscondment during pilgrimage, the Commission would ban any Ground Handler found wanting from working with the Commission.
The NCPC boss also hinted that the Commission has commenced a strong partnership with the Israeli government to make abscondment difficult.
He also stated the pilgrims’ guarantors form has been modified to make guarantors liable to their action by prosecuting them in the court of law.
He assured that no pilgrim would abscond in this year’s pilgrimage as everything has been put in place to stop abscondment in its entirety.
He intimated that the on-going Easter Pilgrimage has so far witnessed zero absondment of pilgrims.
Rev. Uja urged members of the security committee not to rely on their strength and professional competence but stressed the need for pastoral training for all the members because they need fervent prayers to excel in the assignment as pilgrimage is a spiritual journey.
His word: “I hope that we will put greater attention on prayer. We should increase the army of prayer warriors and reduce the army of complainants”.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Security Committee for the 2017 pilgrimage to Israel, Rome and Greece, Maj. General Emmanuel Nienge (rtd) thanked the NCPC boss for the opportunity given to the Committee to submit their report.
He described the Committee as one of the most important Committee as far as pilgrimage is concerned.
Gen. Nienge also hinted that the Commission recorded zero abscondment for pilgrims who travelled to Rome last year as a result of the strong measures put in place by the Security Committee.
He explained that the 18-member committee were inaugurated on 18th September, 2017 and were drawn from different Security Agencies.
