The Niger State Christian Pilgrims Board will start airlifting Christian pilgrims who could not make the trip to the Holy land last year on March 7, 2015.
Leader of the state’s delegation, Barrister Abraham Yisa, who spoke to newsmen on Wednesday in Minna, said the state will be among the eight states whose pilgrims would be going for pilgrimage in March after they missed out last year.
Yisa said the airlift of pilgrims will start on March 7 and continue until Easter, after which the process for the 2015 Christian pilgrimage would begin.
He explained that some intervening circumstances were responsible for the spillover of the 2014 pilgrimage into 2015.
He said: “The pilgrimage that would be undertaken is for 2014, which spilled over to 2015.
“The pilgrimage of 2015 will still take place.
“There were challenges that caused the spillover of the pilgrimage, which include the postponement of the elections and the dwindling resources in the state.
“But all Niger State Christian pilgrims are going to partake in the Easter pilgrimage.”
Yisa explained that 557 pilgrims would be airlifted in the state, adding that adjustments are being made to cut down on some luxuries during the pilgrimage.
He then assured that the board is working towards ensuring that the people will not be disenfranchised from participating in the elections.
Yisa said though the days of the pilgrimage was cut short, the pilgrims will still enjoy the comprehensive package as they will be expected to preform all the rites, visit all the places and there would also be training of the participants, adding: ”We will ensure that the participants come back complete and enriched spiritually and physically.”
Yisa further said that the physically challenged pilgrimage, youth pilgrimage and family pilgrimage will take place as scheduled.