TheCable

No fewer than 417 intending Christian pilgrims under the Bauchi state government sponsorship were on Monday screened for the 2014 pilgrimage.

Addressing the pilgrims in Bauchi, Rev. Shuaibu Byel, the chairman of the Bauchi State Christian Pilgrims’ Welfare Board, said the screening was necessary to avoid complications.

Byel said that all the pilgrims must be screened to verify their credentials and confirm the information provided in their applications, to avoid “contradiction and falsification”.

“For example, all intending pilgrims must be medically fit; free from Ebola and other contagious diseases.

“We have also announced that those who have performed the exercise between 2010 and 2013 under government sponsorship, should relinquish their seats to give others the opportunity.

“The board has also taken measures to ensure that only mature applicants perform the exercise, because youths, in their quest for greener pastures, are liable to abscond.

“So, the screening will allow us to ensure that only those who are medically fit undertake the journey, while those with other ulterior motives would be fished out,” he said.

The executive secretary of the board, Mr Philip Tambaya, commended Governor Isa Yuguda for carrying everybody along in the state.

He urged the pilgrims as well as the Christian community in general to reciprocate the gesture by contributing their quota to the development of the state.

Earlier, the north-east zone federal commissioner of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, Archbishop Nemuel Babba, said all arrangements had been concluded for a successful pilgrimage.

Babba urged the pilgrims to be law abiding and avoid acts that would tarnish the image of the state and the country.