The Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission has commenced the sensitisation of families to a pilot scheme of family pilgrimage starting between July and August.
Henry Ezike, the Head of Operations in the commission, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to Ezike, the family pilgrimage is a novel initiative of the NCPC aimed at encouraging families to travel to the holy land as a group, independent of government investment.
He said the commission was targeting wealthy individuals, churches and other interest groups that could afford the package.
He said: “Government has no hand in it.
“We are targeting those who are well-to-do.
“The essence is to encourage families to pray together in the holy land.
“It is a pilot scheme.
“We do not have an estimate but we are targeting about a thousand or a thousand five hundred families to participate in this inaugural edition.
Ezike said the commission was working with some churches like the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Anglican Church as well as Bishop Wale Oke and members of his church and others who are interested in the programme.
Ezike said four categories had been approved for the maiden exercise.
According to him, a family of two adults will pay N770,147 while a family of three comprising two adults and one child will pay the sum of N1,116,812.
A family of four, comprising two adults and two children, is expected to pay N1,436,790, and a family of five, comprising two adults and three children, will pay N1,818,308.
Ezike said the management had made it flexible to enable families make choices, based on their incomes and plans for the exercise.
He urged families and other interested groups to take advantage of the offer and give their families special opportunities to experience realities in the holy land.
On preparations for the regular pilgrimage, the NCPC’s head of procurement, Emeka Nwafor told NAN that the Technical Evaluation Committee was still scrutinising the bids it received for the exercise.
Nwafor said the committee would soon submit its report to enable the relevant authorities go on with the task of selecting air carriers for the exercise scheduled to hold later in the year.
He said all arrangements were being made to make the commission stick to its timetable for the 2013 regular pilgrimage exercise.
It will be recalled that the NCPC recently held the opening bid for prospective airline operators for the 2013 pilgrimage.
