The Rotary Club of Lekki Phase 1, District 9110 has charged Nigerians to keep their environment clean and engage in regular exercise, saying they are prerequisites for healthy living.
The club gave the charge recently while marking the Rotary Day of Service during which its members and their friends had a long walk on Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State, sanitising the environment in the process.
Speaking during the event, the Change Maker President of the club, Rotarian Ifeoma Anieze Corona, urged Nigerians to walk for at least 30 minutes in a day to stay fit.
Corona explained that members of the club use the Rotary Day of Service to create awareness on the importance of exercising the body and keeping one’s environment clean.
“This involves us calling even people who are not Rotarians – family and friends – to participate in the programme. As you saw, we did sanitation, which is one of the seven areas of focus of Rotary. So, we made sure that our environment is clean. Cleanness, they say, is next to godliness. So, we have to create that awareness that people should keep their environment clean.
“So, my advise to Nigerians, especially Lagosians, is that they should take their health seriously. They should endeavour to walk daily, even if it is for 30 minutes. It is very important because it helps you to remain healthy. Also, as you try to keep healthy, you must make sure that your environment is clean. That is the message we are really sending out today,” she said.
Corona said the programme was continuous, adding: “We do that all the time. In Rotary, we make things happen. This is just one part of it. We have health, sanitation, basic education and so on. It’s about service. We just serve humanity; that’s what we do in Rotary.”
A past assistant governor of the club, Mr. Kayode Aderinokun, also tasked Nigerians to go extra mile to do things that would sustain humanity.
He said: “Virtually everything has affected our environment. Before now, we didn’t need to worry about global warming. Today, something that was so remote has actually come to our doorsteps. There is flooding all over the place; there is erosion. There are all kinds of climatic changes that we didn’t bargain for. In those years when they were talking about all these, they were so remote and esoteric. Today, it has come to live with us. So, we need to go that extra mile to do things that will sustain humanity,” he said.
A consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr. Lateef Olawale Ogungbemi, who gave a brief health talk after the walk, explained that medical doctors recommend exercise for people routinely because of its importance.
“So, the walk we did this morning is part of exercise for people to understand the importance of regular exercise,” he added.
