Sanitising Annual Pilgrimage To Jerusalem

The sponsorship of Christians on annual pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem by the Rivers State Government is significant in many respects. For one, it promotes and raises the consciousness of religion as an integral part of the society. Above all, it facilitates and promotes peaceful co-existence, love and understanding amongst people of diverse interest and social background. This also explains the reasons why the Muslims on their part embark on annual pilgrimage to Mecca, another holy city in Saudi Arabia.

Be that as it may, the bottom-line of this obligatory annual trip to the holy land by the two dominant religious bodies is to achieve a common goal which borders on service to God, anchored on love, peace and unity through their exposure to these great cities of the world. Unfortunately, this annual exercise has not been properly articulated and handled by the authorities whose responsibility is to process the documents of the intending pilgrims.

For instance, the last year’s session was characterised by sharp practices and was later hijacked by politicians and other influential persons in the society, thereby denying a whole lot of genuine applicants the opportunity of traveling to Israel. Those who had earlier collected their application forms for sponsorship to the holy land were disappointed as their names were not short-listed for approval for the journey.

The most worrisome aspect of it all is that huge sums of money and time were spent while trying to meet the numerous requirements needed to travel. It even got to a point where those that did not formally apply were cleared and shortlisted to travel to Israel, simply because they have strong connections with the people in government. It is a statement of fact that some of them have traveled to Jerusalem for upwards of three to four times while a good number of others are yet struggling to have even one slot.

There is no doubt that the yearly trip to the holy city has become a veritable source of business to those set of persons and their collaborators. This is very unfair and should be discouraged in all ramifications. Such practice, to say the least, is a complete negation of the principles of Christianity. Besides, it negates the ideals and objectives of the state government’s efforts in sanitising the society through the acquisition of practical knowledge and experience in the holy land.

After all “what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander” says a popular maxim. Who would not like to travel to such an important part of the world to see the tomb where Jesus Christ, the saviour of mankind was buried? Who would not want to visit Jesus Christ’s birthplace, Bethlehem, as well as other places of interest which we usually read in the Bible, like the River Jordan, the Red Sea, Mountain Ararat and so on.

Against this background, the Sole Administrator of the Christian Welfare Board should rise up to the challenge of correcting these anomalies before the commencement of the next round of the exercise in order to instill a sense of belonging and restore confidence in the system.

Nwauwa is of Radio Rivers, Port Harcourt