The Adamawa Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board says it has concluded plans to airlift 221 intending pilgrims to Jerusalem on June 29.
The Ag. Executive Secretary of the Board, Ms. Angelina Emmanuel, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Monday.
She said, the board had successfully screened all the intending pilgrims both at the state level and local governments.
“We have 179 prospective pilgrims from the state and 42 from the local governments, where two persons were selected from each of the 21 local governments in Adamawa.
“Altogether we have 221 registered prospective pilgrims from Adamawa state who would be airlifted on June 29 to Jerusalem”, she said.
Emmanuel said that the screening exercise conducted for intending pilgrims was towards achieving a seamless 2024 Christian Pilgrimage.
According to her, the screening exercise was a demonstration of government’s commitment to safeguard pilgrims’ health and ensure proper documentation before travelling.
The Executive Secretary said that the screening excercise was conducted by various bodies including; team of medical personnel, officials from Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and Department of State Service (DSS) among others.
“The exercise is an annual routine to ascertain the health status of intending pilgrims, ensuring relevant documents such as international passport, yellow card, COVID-19 card are complete and accurate.
“The officials also do a background check on pilgrims personality and guarantors in order to avoid abscondment, while those with chronic diseases, less than 30 years and pregnant women are disqualified,” she said.
Emmanuel urged the intending pilgrims to be of good behaviour and shun acts that could bring the state and the country to disrepute while in Jerusalem.
The executive secretary said that a pilgrimage was not going on a tour for pleasure, but a period of commitment to spiritual exercise — “like praying for themselves, family, state and country”.
She stressed the need for intending pilgrims to comply with the procedures and protocols established by the commission.
Emmanuel further expressed gratitude to the State Governor for his unwavering support towards the entire operations as well as the sponsorship of the Pilgrims for the 2024 pilgrimage.(NAN)
