Chidimma Uchegbu – Abuja
The management, staff and stakeholders of Nigeria Christian Pilgrims (NCPC) have celebrated Bishop Stephen Adegbite who marked his first 100 days in office as the fourth substantive Executive Secretary of the Commission.
While acknowledging major changes the new Executive Secretary brought into the Commission, the staff and other stakeholders described his appointment by President Bola Tinubu as one of the best as Adegbite represents change.
To mark the day Adegbite unveiled NCPC a new corporate slogan for The commission which read, ‘Service and Satisfaction’.
Speaking at the event, the NCPC boss appreciated all the government functionaries that have supported the cause of the Commission in the last 100 days.
“I thank God for where he is taking us to. By the grace of God, we will begin airlifting of pilgrims by next month, June. Pilgrimage in Nigeria is no longer every month, it has been rescheduled to take place between April and July which is the Easter pilgrimage and the second one will be the general pilgrimage between November and February and by the grace of God, we have gone through the procurement act and procedures, and we are concluding today in marking 100 days in the office,” he said.
While encouraging Nigerians to join the journey of pilgrimage due to the enormous blessings attached to it, the executive secretary said, “Yesterday I was with the governor of Imo State, Gov Hope Uzodinma, who sponsored 1000 pilgrims from his state. He was awarded the governor for the year and ambassador of the Commission. By the grace of God, he will be the coordinating governor who will lead the pilgrimage in the next five years to enable us to have spirit-lifting pilgrimage.
“I have been to the Holy Land more than 24 times and there is no time I don’t come home with testimony and I encourage you to join and you will testify.”
Adegbite reassured Nigerians that Isreal is safe for pilgrims, saying, “I want to assure Nigerians that can embark on pilgrimage to Israel. The letter written by the Minister of Interior, Israel indicates that normalcy has returned to Israel and our pilgrimage destination remains Israel and any other place is adventure; Israel is a blessed land.”
He, however, appreciated members of the NCPC staff for their resilience, dedication and tenacity, promising them that he would leaverege on the renewed hope agenda of the government to drive home the ‘Service and Satisfaction’ slogan he unveiled.
Some of the major achievements recorded in the 100 days were to rejig the administrative architecture of the Commission for effective service delivery, staff members were realigned, reassigned and redeployed to new areas of competence for optimal performance.
Adegbite within also re-introduced calenders of events, effective engagement with stakeholders as well as flagged-off the screening exercises in some of the states.
