A civil society advocate, Jacob Choji Pwakim, has condemned the Plateau State government for allegedly approving a whopping sum of ₦7.84 billion to sponsor 1,100 Christian pilgrims for the 2026 pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The state government had on Saturday, announced that it was sponsoring the pilgrims to the holy land as part of its social corporate responsibility, with the first batch set to depart the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Sunday night.
While bidding the beneficiaries farewell at an event organised for them in Jos on Saturday, Governor Caleb Mutfwang, who was represented by his deputy, Ngo Josephine Piyo, noted that the pilgrimage transcends a ceremonial exercise, emphasiding its profound spiritual significance as a life-transforming experience that reconnects believers with the foundations of the Christian faith.
However, Pwakim who is the founder of Yiavha Nigeria, a youth-based advocacy organization, believes spending such an amount from tax-payers’ money on sponsoring of pilgrims is not only misplaced priority but a waste of the scarce state resources.
In a statement on Sunday, Pwakim said spending such an amount which when broken down, amounts to an average of N6.8 million per pilgrim, was the height of financial recklessness as several communities in Plateau State keep crying out over lack of basic amenities while insecurity have skyrocketed just as youth unemployment has gone beyond a 70 percent mark.
“Reports indicate that Plateau State will spend about ₦7.48 billion sponsoring roughly 1,100 pilgrims to Jerusalem and other holy sites this year, an average of about ₦6.8 million per pilgrim,” Pwakim said in the statement.
“When I reflect on this, I cannot help but think about what ₦7–8 billion represents in a state where many public schools are deteriorating, primary health centres lack equipment and staff, teachers struggle with inadequate pay, a state with Internally Displace Person struggling to rebuild their lives through fundraising, and young entrepreneurs remain stuck not because they lack ideas, but because they lack access to capital.
“If ₦50 million can upgrade a school, that same amount could fix about 160 schools in one year, 640 in four years, and 1280 in 8years. If ₦100 million upgrades a primary health facility, about 80 centres could be improved annually, 640 in 8 years.
“If ₦7–8 million were invested in 1,000 serious small business owners — leather workers, agro-processors, storage investors, service providers —Plateau would have funded 8000 small scales with return on investment and multiplier effect on state growth and economic viability.
“To beneficiaries of such unreasonale government expenditure, I am not attacking our faith, but saying that, everyone must fund its religius journey because faith is personal and sacred. How will I feel that the government is spending such an amount while we are still dealing with lumpen poverty, people displsced with no hope of recuperating, children schooling in dilapedated places or under the tree, our young girls turning to prostitution just to make ends meet?
“If we are serious about building stronger ties with Israel, then let it be through deeper agricultural partnerships, technology transfer, irrigation systems, climate-smart farming, and enterprise development — not only ceremonial travels in the name of pilgrimage. Lets revisit the Agricultural Support and Training Centre (ASTC)”, he emphasised.
