In the early hours of Saturday, 16th July, 2022, Brownites were awakened- by loud music blaring from a speaker- to participate in the first edition of the Get Fit Exercise. The programme was organised by USA in conjunction with UIMSA and ABH.
The programme was scheduled for 6:30am but did not start until 7:00am at the point of convergence which was the ABH Gate. The programme started with the participants jogging towards the School of Nursing. There was however a detour to invite interested Bellites at the School of Nursing to take part in the activity. A few of them showed an avid interest in the exercise and joined participating Brownites. The team went past Hamine Store, Christ’s Chapel and the Geriatric Centre where a turning was made to the left, emerging back at the ABH Gate.
The body stretching exercise followed the jogging exercise. This took place at the Volleyball Court and was coordinated by Mr Chinedu Okoro. Coming immediately after this was the fitness challenge session which involved determining who the “most fit” participant was. Participants were challenged to do push-ups and the last person to back out emerged the winner.
The final part of the programme was the dancing session. Participants danced round the Volleyball Court following a particular pattern which was given by the coordinator, Mr Chinedu Okoro. Though some refrained from dancing out of timidity, most participants apparently had fun dancing.
The Get Fit Exercise ended by 7:36am. Glucose and water were made available to the participants to quench their thirst and replenish their energy.
In a brief interview with the Sports’ Minister, Monsuru Adewale Tijani, he said, “People didn’t turn up as expected, but it was fairly good because we were able to mobilise some people. The publicity was at a low ebb and a lot of people were not around, probably because only few classes are still receiving lectures. It may also be due to the fact that we are in the post-festive season and people have not fully returned to school. For the next Get Fit, we will try to work on publicity, at least two weeks before the fixed date, to create awareness and mobilise people.”
Some Brownites who took part in the Get Fit Exercise relayed their experiences to ABH Press.
“I feel rejuvenated and energized. I feel good. The exercise made me feel lighter. I also made two new friends, Iswat from School of Nursing and also Tayo from my class,” Omotola Odeleke shared.
Solomon Okpara told ABH Press, “It is a very good move. All work and no play makes Jack a dumb boy. This will make brownites fit. The only problem is that people do not turn up. I don’t know if there is a way we can encourage Brownites and improve their participation. That this involved 3 associations- ABH, UIMSA and USA- is more reason why a lot of people should have been present. I really enjoyed the exercise. We jogged, did body stretching and at the end we were given glucose and water.”
