Family pilgrimage begins August 24 – Opara

The Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission said on Monday that it would begin its maiden family pilgrimage on August 24.
The Executive Secretary of the commission, John-Kennedy Opara, announced this at the signing of the air charter agreement on the 2013 pilgrimage between the commission and Atlas Jet Nigeria Limited in Abuja.
Opara said more than 900 pilgrims from six states of the federation had been scheduled to participate in the exercise.
Opara added that the commission was finalising arrangement for travel documents of the prospective pilgrims ahead of their departure on Saturday.
He said: “We have sent the list for the visas and we are trusting God that before the end of today, we will tidy up the visa issue with the Israeli authorities and the air carrier is also ready.
“The intending pilgrims are ready.
“God willing, we are going to flag it off on Saturday.
“It is a pilot scheme and it’s going to be a little bit less than a thousand this year and I know by next year many families will want to embark on this family pilgrimage.”
Opara said that Atlas Jet Nigeria Limited had been hired to convey the pilgrims to Israel.
The executive secretary said that the prospective pilgrims would be transported in four batches for the maiden exercise, noting that other logistic requirements had been met.
He said that the idea of the exercise was to encourage the reinstatement of Christian values in the family.
He said that it became necessary to reinstate Christian values in family life because such values had been lost to societal influences leading to vices in the society.
Opara said that emerging vices in the society could be minimised if families were encouraged to imbibe a prayerful and righteous life through participation in pilgrimage.
The programme was introduced by the NCPC to expand the scope of pilgrimage and to encourage private sponsorship in the country.