Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State was, yesterday, conferred with the ‘Best Pilgrimage Governor in the South East Nigeria’ award by the National Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) for committing resources towards the growth and sustenance of Christian Pilgrimage in Nigeria.
Presenting the award to Ugwuanyi, Executive Secretary, National Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), Yakubu Pam, said the commission was impressed with the governor’s commitment to God and the spiritual objectives of the religious exercise, stressing that his administration’s contributions to the noble course in spite of the nation’s challenges are exemplary.
Pam also expressed delight that Ugwuanyi has kept the spirit of Enugu alive as the political, economic and religious headquarters of the South East as designed by the founding fathers.
The NCPC executive secretary disclosed that Enugu came first among the five states of the South East that sponsored pilgrims during the last exercise, saying: “The number of pilgrims that came from Enugu overwhelmed other states and that shows that not only politically you (Ugwuanyi) are coordinating, but, spiritually, you are leading and the best way to encourage you is to come here physically with an award for the best governor in the South East.”
Pam added that Enugu came third nationally in terms of states that sponsored highest number of pilgrims in the last exercise.
He, therefore, acknowledged Ugwuanyi as “a friend and an ambassador of NCPC, stating: “You remain our number one ambassador in the South East.