President Goodluck Jonathan pilgrimage to Israel is spiritual and not a state visit, John-Kennedy Opara, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission, has said.
Opara made the clarification at an interactive session with newsmen on the President’s participation in the 2013 pilgrimage in Abuja on Friday.
The signing of a bilateral agreement on aviation with Israel has sparked a debate on the nature of Jonathan’s visit to Israel.
There is divided opinion as to whether it is a state visit or a spiritual journey for pilgrimage.
Opara said Jonathan’s visit to Israel would strictly be for pilgrimage, insisting that the visit would be different from the President’s usual state visits abroad.
He said that the Israeli authorities might choose to accord the President the honour it usually gives to visiting Heads of State.
He said the President would only facilitate the signing of the agreement, all other arrangements had been put in place by officials from Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs.
Opara said: “It is not a state visit.
“He is going on a spiritual journey.
“However, a president is a president anywhere he goes to.
“The bilateral agreement that we are talking about will be concluded upon on the October 29, which is about his final activity in Israel.
“Of course, the Israeli authorities are aware of his coming and they will accord him that respect as a sitting president of Nigeria, that it is not a state visit.”
Opara said that the Bilateral Air Service Agreement with Israel had dragged for too long.
He said there is no better time than now to resolve the lingering issues.
He assured Nigerians that the signing of the agreement would ease the stress of travel as flight time would fall from nine and half hours to six hours.
It is also expected that the BASA would lead to reduction in the cost of pilgrimage.
Opara added that the opening of a direct flight link between Israel and Nigeria would add value to the nation’s economy in terms of job creation and other capital inflow into Nigeria.
On the final preparation for the October 19 inauguration of the pilgrimage, Opara said that all was set for the ceremony to be performed by Jonathan.
He said that the commission’s staff and the ground handlers were already in Israel to receive the first set of 317 intending pilgrims that would be transported on October 19.
The executive secretary said that the pilgrims that would make the inaugural flight were drawn from the Federal Capital Territory.
On its target of 30,000 pilgrims, Opara said that the commission was hopeful that more Nigerians would make it despite difficulties experienced by some state governments and individuals.
He commended the Borno State Government for defying the security challenge in the state to send Christians to participate in the exercise.
He said that its sensitisation exercise to about 29 states in the country had paid off as some states were sponsoring pilgrims for the first time to go on pilgrimage.
Opara said that the NCPC’s persistent effort at sensitising Nigerians to the benefits of holy pilgrimage was in its bid to make the commission self-sustaining.
He said the commission had acquired a piece of land at the Central Business District Area of Abuja to build its permanent headquarters and to construct a 15-storey hotel plaza.
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