The Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) has introduced fresh measures to smoothen pilgrimage exercises across the country.
Bishop Adegbite Stephen Tunde Victor, the Executive Secretary of the NCPC gave the indication at a session with a section of the media in Abuja at the weekend.
Bishop Adegbite said when he took over the leadership of NCPC earlier in 2024, he resolved to introduce radical changes to restore the integrity of the Pilgrimage exercise.
Adegbite was appointed on January, 2024, but assumed office on February 5, 2024.
He said upon resumption, he found out that a lot of people had taken the commission to court over disputed pilgrimage exercises marred by breaches.
He also said that N3.8 billion was found to be missing in the account of the commission when we came on board, and that ongoing probe efforts are expected to unravel the circumstances of the missing funds.
He revealed that he has reorganized the commission by putting the right people in the right places to produce results.
He said the Commission has made provisions to pay debt owed to its service providers so that pilgrimage activities will be done unimpeded.
“We now pay 80 percent upfront to service providers so they do not have any excuse not to deliver,” he said.
He said Pilgrimage used to last for ten days but was reduced to nine days, and that he was able to restore it back to the ten days period.
No more concessions are entertained for BTA, he said.
He said also that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has supported the Commission to achieve its mandate by providing funds equally well for both Muslim and Christian pilgrims.
The governors, he said, now have confidence in the Commission on account of the reforms introduced for which they have commended.
He said the Commission under him has zero tolerance for abscondment of people moving elsewhere after the pilgrimage trip to Israel