The Governor of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, Mr. Babajide Sanwoola has once again written his name in gold. This time, the governor was awarded by the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, NCPC, for his consistency in sponsoring Christians in his state on Christian pilgrimages.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the Executive Secretary, NCPC, Rev.Yakubu Pam stated that Mr. Sanwoolu was the “Best Governor” in the South-West when it comes to contributions and release of resources for the growth and sustenance of Christian Pilgrimage in the country.
Rev. Pam, pointed out that state governors have been the major financiers of pilgrims in Nigeria, with Lagos sending the largest number of participants, especially since the emergence of Mr. Sanwoolu as governor.
While commending the last batch of pilgrims for being worthy ambassadors of the country, after all of them returned home without absconding, Rev. Pam said everything was being done to flush out corruption in the system. He noted that this would be the first in 10 years that all pilgrims would return home without any one absconding.
He said in a bid to make the exercise more interesting and entertaining for participants, 70 new holy sites have been discovered in Jordan alone as search for more continued.
As the next pilgrimage holds next month, Rev. Pam revealed that arrangements were being concluded to fly pilgrims directly to Isreal from Nigeria. He also disclosed that measures were on ground to address any form of disrespect of Nigerians on pilgrimage in holy lands.
In his words, “We are working towards taking a direct flight from Nigeria to Israel, and back. Usually, when you go to Israel, black men are not always respected, because they abscond.”
“We are preparing to travel with about 10,000 pilgrims, we already have 3,000 on ground that Lagos State government has given us, Ebonyi has given us 300 and Imo State has also given us 500, we are going round to revive the pilgrimage, in other states and one of the ways of reviving it is by appreciating the people who have done well.’’
