BREAKING: 10,000 intending Christian pilgrims pay N30bn, airlift begins Dec 22

The Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission will on December 22 airlift 10,000 Christians who registered for this year’s holy pilgrimage to Jordan.

Each of the intending pilgrims paid N3m, amounting to N30bn by the Nigerian contingent.

The NCPC’s Executive Secretary, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, disclosed this to The PUNCH on Sunday.

Responding by text message to enquiries by our correspondent, Adegbite wrote, “(There are) 10,000 (pilgrims) for now. Each pilgrim paid N3m. (The pilgrimage is for) 10 days.”

He added that the pilgrims will visit Jordan and Turkey.

The December Christian pilgrimage is the first in 2024, after the exercise was repeatedly shifted.

Adegbite said the President’s wife , Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume,would not lead the pilgrims as earlier planned in March.

In November, the NCPC’s Deputy Director and Head of Media and Public Relations, Celestine Toruka, earlier announced that: “The Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission is set to commence the airlift of intending pilgrims to the Holy Land on 22nd December 2024.”

The commission had previously faced delays in its pilgrimage exercises this year, including the cancellation of the Easter pilgrimage to Israel and Jordan in March, with the President’s wife and the SGF proposed to lead the Nigerian contingent.

In April, the NCPC assured stakeholders that the pilgrimage would begin in June, emphasising Israel’s safety as a destination.

However, by May, the cost of the Easter pilgrimage had been reviewed from N3m  to N4.8m, though no official commencement date was provided.

Despite these setbacks, Adegbite reiterated in October that the pilgrimage would still occur before the year’s end, stating, “Who says the pilgrimage will not be held this year? Is this year over? The main pilgrimage is usually from November to January, and sometimes rolls over to February.”

The NCPC has now confirmed that 10,000 pilgrims will embark on the December pilgrimage, with each paying N3m, amounting to a total of N30bn.

The pilgrims will spend 10 days visiting sites in Jordan and Turkey before returning to Nigeria.