Healthy Living: Wellness Brand invests over 700m on fitness for Abuja residents

Considering the high burden of diseases in Nigeria, a wellness brand says it is investing over 700 million naira on fitness to improve the physical well-being and mental health of residents in the Federal Capital Territory.

The Chief Executive Officer of the brand, Folusho Ogunwale disclosed this to journalists while launching its fitness gym in Abuja.

Ogunwale who emphasized that the choice of lifestyle individuals make, determine the state of their health noted that physical exercise in conjunction with eating right will contribute immensely to their lives.

“Ifitness is currently West Africa first and fastest growing fitness chain, we have a lot of concentration in Lagos.

“We’ve got fifteen locations in Lagos, this is the very first outside Lagos which is the sixteenth, the idea is to make fitness very common, to build the culture of fitness and wellness amongst people of Abuja”, he added.

According to the gym expert “Cardiovascular diseases according to World Health Organisation (WHO), kills well over 17 million every year and because unlike COVID, where there’s a lot of noise, these diseases actually kills a lot more. You find one or two people that will probably have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stuff like this and these are actually diseases that are largely from the kind of lifestyle choices that we choose”.

The CEO also noted that the provision of affordable wellness centre is key to reaching out to larger number of residents in the country.

He however urged stakeholders in the public and private sector to join hands in sensitising Nigerians on the need to build the culture of fitness and wellness.

Ogunwale said “For fitness to be a thing that is common, it has to be convenient, It has to be affordable. So making it fun and making sure that we are investing in community, is very important.

“The government should do their bids, private sector will have to do their bits and that’s where the partnership is.

“For us, it’s more of how we showcase the efficacy as part of the healthcare delivery system of the nation”.

He further urged residents in the FCT to ensure they embrace physical activity and healthy lifestyle for a healthy living.

“Fitness and wellness is our personal responsibility. You can delegate your work, you can delegate a chore but you can’t delegate personal fitness”.

“Start by taking the little steps and what are the little steps? physical activities. It is the only known way today to train the body to be strong.

“And secondly, we have to start paying attention to what we eat. Eating carelessly isn’t good” he maintained.

On her part, board member of the gym, Nnenna Onyewuchi explain that the gym is a platform for not just fitness but bonding people and creating a network of like minds.

She said “There is actually a strong correlation between physical health and mental health. One of the things they say about depression is that when you are working out, your body releases endorphins.

“The other thing that drives a lot of depression is loneliness. For a lot of people, if you don’t have a lot of people around you, it can be very lonely to be alone. And the great thing about fitness is that we are real family.

“So working out will help you feel better, but also coming here and seeing the amazing people here can help you form community” She said.