NAN-H-40
Safety
By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja, Nov. 12, 2016 (NAB) Rev. Tor Uja, Executive Secretary, Nigérian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), says the commission is committed to the safety of Nigerian pilgrims during the 2016 pilgrimage.
Uja stated this on Saturday in Abuja at the NCPC’s maiden security training and orientation for pilgrimage officers and security team with focus on “Keeping Nigerians Safe, Home and Abroad”.
He said that the Security Committee for the 2016 pilgrimage was set up to actualise the commission’s desire to achieve a hitch-free pilgrimage to the holy land.
Uja said that safety and security of all pilgrims, at home and abroad, was a critical goal of NCPC, adding that the commission had formed a synergy with all relevant security agencies to achieve effectiveness.
According to him, safety is a critical goal and we will have this training in order to achieve effectiveness in our operations and a network of partnership among the different security arms.
“We will ensure that all pilgrims, officials and operatives who are going to accompany us during the preparations and execution of pilgrimage, would be kept safe from every kind of imaginable problems.
“One of our commitments is not only to pilgrims but those of you who are going to man the pilgrims that you also deserve to be safe in this country and anywhere else.
“The security committee has also undertaken to visit all the airports we will be using and as we travel, they are also going to visit hotels, sites and praying mountains, and even examine the place to ensure that everybody is safe.
“We have taken every step to ensure that in this year’s pilgrimage, we will come back with every single Nigerian who travels with us,” he said.
The NCPC boss said the commission would work to check the cases of absconding pilgrims in all ramifications, stressing that screening and rescreening of candidates had been done.
He assured that adequate measures had been taken to ensure that every Nigerian was protected against either external violence or internal issues of health.
Maj-Gen Emmanuel Nienge, Chairman, NCPC Security Committee for 2016 Pilgrimage, said that security of pilgrims would be effectively handled to ensure hitch-free exercise.
Nienge said that many people took the issue of security for granted even when it was obvious that there were many security challenges at home and abroad.
He said that it was the task of the committee to ensure that every pilgrim was secured right from Nigeria to the holy land.
“That is why we are holding this seminar to sensitise those who will be helping us in this task,” he said.
Similarly, Mr Emmanuel Adugwo, National Intelligence Agency Pilgrimage Committee, said that security matter was all encompassing and a concern of everybody.
Adugwo advised pilgrims to be mindful of what they do or say in foreign land, adding that every country had its laws and peculiar security situations. (NAN)
OYS/OPI/OPI
Edited by Olisa Ifeajika