By Patrick Titus, Uyo
The establishment of the Akwa Ibom State Christian Pilgrim Welfare Board is a violation of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Center for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN), a forefront human rights organization in Nigeria, has asserted at a press conference yesterday in Uyo.
CHRAN Director, Otuekong Franklyn Isong said that section 10 of the Constitution 1999 (as amended) has forbidden both federal and state governments from adopting any religion as state religion.
He therefore called for the scraping of the board in compliance with the Nigerian Constitution.
Isong also expressed dissatisfaction that the State Christian Pilgrim Welfare Board is being run with public funds i.e. tax payers money, even when it has not brought any positive effects on the state economy.
CHRAN Director reasoned that in
Akwa Ibom State people who travel on a prigrimage to Jerusalem sometimes on the sponsorship of the state government only come back with the title of “Justice of Peace (JP)” and has it written after their names. This in essence, means nothing and of no economic benefits to neither the state government that run the board with the tax payers money nor the individual persons.
“The Akwa Ibom State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board which was established in 1993 by the Yakubu Bako Military Administration exists in violation of Section 10 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which prohibits the Government of the Federation or of a state from adopting any religion as state religion.
“The Center advocates the scrapping of the Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board in compliance with the Nigerian Constitution,” CHRAN Director stated.
Taking insights into the activities of the 2025 Christmas Village which recently has been renamed “Christmas Unplugged”, CHRAN alleged that the essence of the village
has been politicised, monetized and hijacked by powerful politicians, leaving out the downtrodden, the students and widows in the state.
According to the rights group, the idea of Christmas Village was conceived about eight years ago by the immediate past administration in the state, to localise the culture of Akwa Ibom State and touch the lives of the poorest of the poor in the state.
“The Center notes that the 2025 Christmas Village has been politicised, monetized and hijacked by powerful politicians, leaving out the downtrodden, the students, and widows in the State. The Center notes that the original essence of the Akwa Ibom Christmas was to touch the lives of the poorest of the poor in the state.
“The Center notes that the owners of shops and spaces in the 2025 Christmas Village are majorly from Uyo Local Government area. The Center calls for a more transparent and accountable process of allocation of shops and spaces in the Christma Village in future exercises.
“The Center is against the use of the name “Christmas Unplugged”, because it does not reflect the local setting of the original concept of the Christmas Village,” Otuekong Isong said.
CHRAN called on the Governor to embark on tour of the 31 Local Government areas of the state in the first quarter of 2026, to ascertain how the Local Government Council funds are used by the council chairmen and to assess their level of performance in their local governments.
CHRAN has been advocating for grassroots development and good governance through the local government administration, which the Center noted has appeared not yield sufficient result as most Local Government Councils are poverty centers due to lack of development and public infrastructure.
Our correspondent reports that CHRAN, during the conference, gave an introspection of its activities for the year 2025, and applauded Governor Umo Eno for consolidating on the foundations laid by previous administrations for the development of the state.
