By Stephen Merit
Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission
Communique Reached At The End of
A 4-Day Retreat Held At Crest Hotel, Jos Pleateau State
- Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission
Communique Reached At The End of
A 4-Day Retreat Held At Crest Hotel, Jos Pleateau State
From Monday 4th – Thursday 7th December, 20231. The Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission is a Federal Government Agency responsible for co-ordinating, controlling , supervising and organizing Christian Pilgrimage in Nigeria.
2. As part of its overall quest to develop capacity in its workforce, the Commission organized the above Retreat, and the following resolutions are reached at the end of the Retreat :
i. That the Commission should linkages with State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board to achieve more positive outcomes in its pilgrimage processes.ii. That all screening exercises should be led by very senior and experience officers to avoid the incidents of abscondments.
iii. That the Commission should evolve an effective screening system at different levels its operations,
iv. That the Commission design and develop a whistle-blowing mechanism for Staff of the Commission perceived to be involved in aiding the abscondment of a pilgrim.
v. That all intending pilgrims should be thoroughly screen, but where it becomes impossible to physically screen any intending pilgrim, should be screened via Zoom in order to beat Visa application deadlines.
vi. That Pilgrims forms for use by State Christian Pilgrims welfare Boards should be carefully and thoroughly harmonized across various States and approved by the Commission before use by such States.
vii. That screening officers should not decide based on statement of accounts, as been found to be on many occasions.
viii. That all States Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board should be made to realise that pilgrims who have been airlifted by the Commission to various Holy Sites should be seen as Nigerian pilgrims and not the limited view of seeing such pilgrims as belonging to a particular state. Accordingly, in this respect, SCPWBs should work closely with the Commission’s Staff in order to ensure a smooth pilgrimage including deliberate actions to minimize abscondments at all times.
ix. That the authority of federal government officials (including NCPC staff) should be communicated by the E.S. to all states during conference of States meeting.
x. That any Secretary of State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board who desires to guarantee an intending pilgrim should not be allowed to guarantee more than two pilgrims
xi. Pilgrims to be so guaranted; and where the SCPWBs desires to provide guarantee for more than 2 (two) then he should be made to submit a written undertaking to the Executive Secretary of NCPC to that effect and the ES of NCPC will examine such and reach a decision as appropriate in the circumstances.
xii. That staff on screening exercise to Zonal Offices should leverage on the knowledge of the staff of such Zonal Offices of the local environment to guide them.
xiii. That two staff or at- least one staff who carried out the screening of any pilgrims should be made to accompany such pilgrims whenever they are travelling; this is to apply any knowledge gained during the screening for monitoring of those pilgrims.
xiv. In this respect , the name of any suspected pilgrims should be compiled and given to staff traveling with them to nip any attempt to escape on the part of the pilgrims.
xv. In this respect, the ratio of staff in any bus should increased in order to curtail attempts of escaping.xvi. Staff on screening assignments should be thoroughly tutored on the art of report writing, to be able to capture all details of the screening exercise to minimize abscondment. Accordingly, staff who delay submitting reports after a screening will be thoroughly disciplined in line with extant rules and regulations.
xvii. Intelligence gathering on pilgrims with two passports should be intensified. Pilgrims renewed passports should be double-checked intensely to ensure that they do not submit the expired passport while still using the valid passport to aid abscondment. In this respect, any pilgrim submitting an expired passport should be automatically seen as a potential absconder.
xviii. That in respect of the above, issuance of Visa on passport to staff of the Commission is deemed to enhance their relevance and ease of movement of such staff. That the Commission will embark on continuous re-evaluation of screening reports and the list of names sent for Visa procurement. Accordingly , the (Operations Department upon having sent for Visa procurement , and will accordingly sent relevant Visa lists to the Special Duties Department and copy the relevant Zonal Co-ordinator for the purpose of re-evaluation in order to eliminate error including the potential abscond.
xix. That the relevance of trend analysis regarding abscondment should be sustained and utilised since it now indicates a change in this category of absconders to include self-sponsored pilgrims and others from 75 years and above; consequently a thorough screening emphasis on the sponsors of persons in this category is to be emphasized in order to reveal those who are potential absconders.
xx. That the role of ground handlers should include getting information from management of hotels where our pilgrims are to stay regarding secret exit and that ground handlers should enter MOUs with hotels for pilgrims to accept the review of recordings of CCTV cameras when the need arises.
xxi. Guarantors should be informed of the implications of agreeing to stand as sureties in order to properly secure their willingness to stand as guarantors for intending pilgrims.
IN WITNESS WHERE OF WE the undersigned put our hands and signatures are fixed on this ….day of December, 2023.
