The Plateau State government has come under attack for approving N7.84 billion in sponsorship of 1,100 Christian pilgrims for the 2026 pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The state government announced the sum approval for the said purpose on Saturday.
In the announcement, the government claimed the gesture was part of its social corporate responsibility.
On Saturday night, the first batch of the funded pilgrims departed the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Reacting to the expenditure embarked on by the government, a civil society advocate, Jacob Choji Pwakim, described it as a misplaced priority and dissipation of tax payers’ money.
Pwakim, the founder of Yiavha Nigeria, a youth-based advocacy organisation, opined this in a statement he released where he claimed that the N7.48b amounts to an average of N6.8 million per pilgrim.
This he declared, was the height of financial recklessness, saying while several communities in Plateau State keep crying out over a lack of basic amenities, and insecurity has skyrocketed alongside youth unemployment, the state government is spending money on pilgrims.
