Buhari approves N160 to $1 rate for Christian Pilgrims ’ operations

       President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has

approved N 160 to $ 1 exchange rate for

Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission’ s

( NCPC ) operations.

This was disclosed to State House

correspondents by the Executive Secretary

of the Commission, John Keneddy- Opara ,

after briefing President Buhari on the

Commission’ s activities at the State

House, Abuja .

He said : “As you are aware he has

approved $ 1 to N 160 for the conventional

exchange rate for this pilgrimage operation

and he also agreed that he will continue to

encourage us particularly as we drive to

ensure self sustenance .

“This is a journey and we are sure that we

are going to succeed. So he was very

happy with the entire process . We are

praying that God will help us to be a

source of strength to Mr. President , so that

the Federal government and states will

spend the necessary resources on other

things while the pilgrimage is self funding

as time goes on.

“We are already running four pilgrimages in

one year . The first is the Easter pilgrimage

which has passed , the Youth Pilgrimage

which we termed operation catch them

young, the family pilgrimage and the

overall pilgrimage . For those going to

Israel for the 11 days trip, it is N379 , 840

and for the youth pilgrimage it is going to

cost N357 , 000. ”

According to him, Nigerians on pilgrimage

can now undergo skill acquisition

programme organised by the Nigerian

Christian Pilgrims Commission and Ministry

of Agriculture in Israel towards training

them in the area of agriculture .

He added : “We are introducing the

pilgrimage pilot lottery scheme that will

enable people who are lucky to go on this

trip without much dependence on the state

and the federal government .”

Kennedy- Opara said he was in the State

House to brief the President on the

activities of the commission .

He said : “I came to brief the President on

the activities of the Nigerian Christian

Pilgrims’ Commission, earlier my colleague ,

the Chairman of Hajj Commission had

come to brief him .

“I had to tell him where we are and how

we started the commission and where we

are today and our prayers and I want to

say that the President was very happy with

the commission and he said the

commission has done very well. ”