TheCable

Tor Uja, executive secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), says Christians would soon start paying “reduced cost” for pilgrimage to Israel, because “the economy is not smiling”.

Uja said this on Thursday at the conference of pilgrimage leaders and managers of Nigeria, held in Abuja.

He said due to the crippling economic situation in the country, leaders of the commission have decided to make the pilgrimage cheaper for interested Christian faithful.

“One of the reasons why we have to reduce the cost of pilgrimage is because our economy is not smiling at all,” he said.

“We do not want a burden either on individuals or the government; we want it to be cheaper for anybody who wants to embark on pilgrimage to do so without struggle.

“We will announce it to the public; we believe that it can be made cheaper. We have a committee that is working on that and we intend that any unnecessary weight that can be cut down should be cut down.”

The NCPC is also expected to meet with airline operators to come up with a way to make ticket rates more affordable.

“We have invited our air carriers and ground handlers for a meeting so that we can dialogue and see if we can make the flights fare cheaper,” he said.

“We are going to meet with them to see if managing of pilgrims in Israel can be made cheaper too by reducing the cost of accommodation, feeding and other local elements. When all that is done, definitely, the cost of travelling to Israel will come down.”