Speaking on plans and preparations for the pilgrimage exercise, the Secretary said he would depart for Israel with 100 members of the House of Representatives on an executive pilgrimage, while the main Easter pilgrimage would commence on September 14, 2025, with the inaugural flight scheduled to take off in Imo State.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), Bishop Stephen Adegbite, has confirmed that pilgrimage to Israel and Jordan will resume in September, following the lifting of an earlier suspension of travels to the Holy Land over rising tensions in the Middle East.
Adegbite also said pilgrims will only pay half of the total cost as the Federal Government has offered a 50 per cent subsidy.
The PUNCH reports that the Commission had earlier announced that there would be no further pilgrimages to Israel until the Israel-Iran conflict was resolved.
In a statement signed in June by the Deputy Director and Head of Media and Public Relations of the NCPC, Celestine Toruka, the Executive Secretary, while addressing claims that Nigerian pilgrims were in Israel in the heat of the crisis, announced the suspension, stating that the NCPC was monitoring the situation.
“Given the ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran, which escalated on June 13, no Christian pilgrimage will occur in Israel until the crisis is resolved. The Commission is closely monitoring the situation,” he said at the time.
However, speaking with our correspondent on Saturday, Adegbite confirmed that the suspension had been lifted and that pilgrimage activities would resume in September.
“I was in Israel myself, I came back last week. I went with some members of the House of Representatives, and everything is calm.
“So there is no cause for alarm, we will commence our pilgrimage from September,” Adegbite stated.
The NCPC boss also disclosed that the Commission had contingencies in place in the event of any escalating tensions during the exercise, while giving assurances that pilgrims would return safely.
“We have everything in place, I came back from Israel last week. And Israel is safe. When you go to Israel, you will not even hear anything. And since we started, since ‘99 when I’ve been going, there’s no year you would not have tension, or you don’t have war. But it’s because the last two years have been on the high scale, that is why we have all these.
“But I can assure you, every one that goes with us will return safely. I was in Israel October 7th for your information, with 234 Nigerians. And because of that October 7 incident, we couldn’t come through Tel Aviv International Airport.
“We had to divert back to Amman, we travelled by road and we boarded from Amman. So we have all our plans in place, by the grace of God. The most important thing is God’s safety. And God has been on our side, and he will continue to be on our side,” he said.
Speaking on plans and preparations for the pilgrimage exercise, the Secretary said he would depart for Israel with 100 members of the House of Representatives on an executive pilgrimage, while the main Easter pilgrimage would commence on September 14, 2025, with the inaugural flight scheduled to take off in Imo State.
“I’m going with members of the House of Representatives. That is the Executive one. It’s about 100 people that are going from the House of Reps.
“There are two pilgrimages we do in a year now. We have the Easter pilgrimage and the main pilgrimage. So the Easter pilgrimage we were unable to do because of the war, we are going to do this September 14th, that is the flag-off, and it is going to be in Imo State,” he stated.
Adegbite further disclosed that the pilgrimage exercise would last 10 days, adding that the government had subsidised the fares, leaving pilgrims to pay only N4.5m for the exercise.
“Ten days, we’ve not reduced anything. And you must also know that the Federal Government of Nigeria is still subsidising the cost of pilgrimage. Pilgrims just pay half, and the Federal Government pays the remaining half,” Adegbite stated.
Source: The Punch
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