…Receives public service award
The executive secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Rev. Yakubu Pam, has named the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Ignatius Kaigama, to lead the 2021 main/2022 Easter pilgrimage to Israel, Rome, Greece, and Jordan as the spiritual father.
A press statement issued by an Information officer 1 in the media and public relations unit, Mrs. Kande Ibrahim, indicated that the NCPC boss disclosed this while addressing the Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria in their first plenary in Abuja Thursday.
He commended the Catholic Church for putting time and resources into the preservation and building of cathedrals and maintaining its facilities to make sure history was preserved.
“In my one year and eight months in office, I must commend the leadership of the Catholic Church Worldwide for making sure most Christian Holy Sites in the world are well kept and preserved. I also commend the preservation of the Church in Antioch, Turkey, and Mount Nebo in Jordan. I was in Turkey in Antioch where Christians were first called Christians and Tarsus the house of Paul and also Mount Nebo in Jordan; all these places were well preserved by the Catholic Church,” he said.
He told the bishops that all Covid-19 travel restrictions had been lifted by Italy, adding that the country’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Stefano De Leo, also made it clear that no pilgrim “will go to Rome except through the regulating body, the NCPC.”
In another development, the NCPC boss has been honoured with two major awards by the Arewa Media Publications Event Company Kaduna who paid him a courtesy visit at the NCPC Corporate headquarters in Abuja.
He was honoured with the award of Excellence as Public Service Person of the Decade and Top Best Run Government Organisation of the Decade in Professionalism, Commitment to Duty, Efficiency and Service Delivery.
Responding, Rev. Pam thanked the Company for the award, saying he was elated “as every award is a big booster; this comes as a way of national unity; a way of building relationships.”
“The work of peace was part of the mandate I received from President Muhammadu Buhari and I will not relent in building and doing more on what I have started,” he said.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Prince Joshua Adeleke, who is the publisher/editor-in-chief, presented the awards, describing Rev. Pam as “hardworking, innovative and dynamic.”
“You have been a good ambassador intervening through the arms of NCPC bringing peace and dialogue to Southern Kaduna and holding a peace summit in Lagos immediately after the EndSARS protest,” he said.
