By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
For the first time Nigerian Christian Pilgrims visited the kingdom of Jordan for the 2021 Holy Pilgrimage due to COVID-19 restriction entry into Israel. The Nigerian Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Honourable Farouk Malami Yabo stressed the need for Nigeria to emulate the culture of peaceful co- existence between Christians and Muslims in Jordan.
The 2021 Christian Pilgrims from Nigeria went on a Holy Pilgrimage for the first time to the Kingdom of Jordan not just for the fun of it but for some significant reasons which Ambassador Yabo said includes the Historical and Religious heritage of Jordan and particularly the beauty of the how Christians and Muslims have sustained a culture of peaceful co-exist over the years.
Adoyi who spoke on behalf of the Ambassador to Hashemite Kingdom to Jordan in Amman the Jordanian Capital highlighted the choice of Jordan for the 2020 Christian pilgrimage. And also to throw more light on some practical efforts the Nigerian Embassy in Jordan is putting to control Nigerians living in or coming into Jordan.
He further spoke on the need for Nigeria to emulate the peaceful co-existence by Jordanians and how it solving security challenges, among other issues.
According to Adoyi, the choice of Jordan for pilgrimage was as a result of Nigeria Christian Pilgrimage Commission , NCPC thinking out of the box due to the effect of the global challenges of Covid-19 since early 2020.
He noted that the success of the 2021 Jordan Pilgrimage was as a result of collaborations between the Nigerian and Jordanian Embassies after Israel placed COVID-19 travel restrictions especially on Pilgrimage into its country.
He said, “Jordan became the next option for pilgrimage so the Nigeria Christian Pilgrimage Commission (NCPC) contacted the mission in Jordan sometime in April a few weeks before I arrived in the country, and today the Jordanian Pilgrimage has become a success story.”
The success he noted is particularly due to the assiduous efforts put in by the leadership of the Executive Secretary of the NCPC, Rev. Yakubu Pam and the over 60 NCPC officials, including chairmen and secretaries from various chapters who visited Jordan to verify things and confirmed that Jordan has historical Holy Sites for Christians and Muslims. It was a resolution that the board and their state chapters reached after visiting Jordan, he said.
Adoyi noted that on arrival to the country, officials of the Jordan Tourism Ministry were at the airport to support and welcome the Nigerian pilgrims.
“This is the first leg of the major religious story of coming to Jordan and I will actually commend the pragmatic and forward thinking leadership of Rev. Yakubu Pam, the Executive secretary of NCPC who has been consistent in leading the Commission.”
Also what encouraged the Holy visit is that Jordan has opened their doors wholeheartedly to Nigeria and has been supporting pilgrims while our fellow citizens have conducted themselves.
Noting that part of the successes recorded in the recent Nigeria Pilgrimage to Jordan is the zero case of abscond and the compliance to Covid-19 test at the airport which has confirmed the World Health Organization, WHO ranking Nigeria number four globally as managing COVID-19.
Of significance is the Holy Sites of Jordan which qualifies the country for Holy Pilgrimage. The NCPC officials keyed into this to facilitate visits to all the Holy Sites like the Baptism Site amongst others for Christians and Muslims.
The Ambassador said, ” before now, Jordan and Nigeria had always maintained a strong relationship which was heightened when our president visited in 2017 and 2019 and we have a strong cooperation on counter-terrorism through the Agabor Process.”
“As a way of tackling terrorism in Nigeria , the Nigerian Security Agencies comprising Senior Military Officers from the Army and the Air Force including members of the National Institute for Policy for Strategic Studies (NIPSS) visited Jordan to strengthen collaboration between the two countries and explored what Jordan is doing in the area of counter terrorism which is in line with this year’s theme: Getting Things Done.
Adoyi disclosed that his visit to the Majesty King of Abdullah of Jordan on 9th if April 2021 was to further strengthen Military cooperation between Nigeria and Jordan.
Despite of the success of the first Jordan pilgrimage the NCPC boss, Rev. Yakubu Pam stated that Jordan is not a replacement for Israel, but when Israel re-opens, Jordan will be imbedded in one of the options that will be explored.
Worthy of emulation is the peaceful coexistence between the 90% of the Muslims population and the Christians for thousands of years in Jordan. This is something we can borrow from Jordan, Amb. Yabo stressed.
“Another spectacular characteristic of Jordan is that they have been able to maintain peace and security despite the challenges of their neighbourhooding countries.
They are surrounded by countries like Syria, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon with a penchant for hostilities but they have been very receptive to refugees and the influx of refugees has been huge.
“They have been taking care of them and also maintaining their own internal security and that is the aspect that I mentioned about cooperation that Jordan and Nigeria have in the area of counter-terrorism.”
This is an excellent example of peaceful coexistence and tolerance, something that we have to deeply take further.
In the area of Military Cooperation between Nigeria and Jordan, Adoyi disclosed that His Majesty King Abdullah 11 of Jordan has harped on such synergy between both countries. ” I think Nigeria should deploy some of these strategies that Jordan has used in combating the threats of terrorism, with this we would be able to surmount the current security challenges Nigeria is facing.”
He however called on the Nigerian media to imbibe the spirit promoting positivity, peace through dissemination of good news for the nation’s image in the global space.
Speaking on Nigeria’s good representation in Jordan among others is an Imam of Nigerian descent who is a Jordanian and has been here in the last 75 years. He was actually born in Jerusalem in 1945, and has been in constant touch with the Nigerian embassy. We also have Jordanian investors who have major investments in Nigeria.
We have a student community and Nigerians who are doing legitimate businesses in Jordan.
Our population is less than 500 and we have only four or five cases and the Embassy has been there to make sure that these people, regardless of being guilty or not, are given fair hearing, Adoyi explained.
