NUJ FCT Chairperson urges journalists to embrace fitness for better productivity

The Chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Council, Ms. Grace Ike, has called on journalists to prioritize their health and well-being by engaging in regular physical exercise and medical checkups.

She made the appeal during the council’s inaugural monthly keep-fit exercise, held on Saturday at the NUJ Secretariat in Abuja.

According to Ms. Ike, staying physically active is not just beneficial for personal health, but also enhances mental alertness and productivity—qualities essential for journalists to effectively carry out their roles in society.

“Most of us have joint pains because we’ve not been doing exercise. You just go for field work. You’re seated or you’re just writing or you’re just doing one thing.
“Find that time to go out to be fit, even if you can’t come to the council, please let’s find a routine thing to do it within our community.

“Wherever you find yourself or when you need to go out on daily basis, keep fit, take that exercise. Do health walk and then try to check yourself. Check your blood pressure, know what you are going through. Not everybody you see, is strong or fit.

“With this exercise, we know those who will come up with issues like I’m strong or not.

“this is the first of its kind in the history of the NUJ FCT and the idea is to keep bringing everyone together for social events “

“I’m happy that the press week is coming up. We’ll have a team of doctors from Nizamiye Hospital to also go through our members and do medical check-ups for our members,” she said.
Grace described the monthly exercise, first of its kind in the council, as part of the new grounds her led administration promised to break.

She urged members of the council to embrace the monthly exercise, every last Saturday of the month, as a way to boost their health system.
She said while the union was pursuing health insurance for it members, they also needed to do exercises to keep fit.

“So, NUJ FCT is setting the pace for journalists to be fit so that we can chase that news and be healthy.

“I know you were watching from behind. Most of the exercise we were asked to do, we were finding it difficult because we have not been doing this.

“So there’s need for us to keep fit because health, they say is wealth. So for us, it’s time for us to regain that energy.
“We want to be fit, to be able to chase that story, to go to the field, to have that noise for news,” Grace said.

A member of the NUJ Sport Planning Committee, Nkechi Onyeneke, described exercise as key to healthy living, saying “if you’re fit, you are healthy.”

Onyeneke advised journalists in FCT to embrace and participate in the initiative, noting that the exercise would be a continuous thing.

“As a journalist in FCT, if you’re not here, you are missing a lot. Try and make it next time, because we’re trying to keep fit,” she said.

Princess Halima Jibrin of the Correspondent Chapter, described the initiative as a milestone achieved by the NUJ FCT leadership that should not only be sustained, but also be proposed to other councils to adopt.

“I also think that Ike should take it to the NEC, so that every chapter of the NUJ across the country should adopt it so that they will be fit.

“It’s not enough to stay behind the camera, behind the screen, all the time without knowing that health is wealth. Let us keep fit and be healthy.

“Health, they say, is wealth. No matter who you are, if you are not fit, you will not be able to enjoy what you have earned,” Jibrin said.

Joke Adisa of TVC News, urged journalists to begin to prioritise their health, saying overtimes many journalists rather leave a sedentary life.
Commending the initiative of the Union leaders, Ajoke said if members could sustain and practice it on their own, they would be better for it.

“If you look at over the years, sicknesses, illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and all that are the killers of people, and journalists in particular, because we do not actually create time for ourselves to let down and unwind as it were.

“But with this, it’s a good initiative and it will go a long way to also bring back the culture of taking care of our health,” she said.

Ajoke appealed to all Nigerians to find about 20 to 30 minutes daily to do exercise.

A member of the council, Alpha Jacksdin said that he felt good and energised to participate in the exercise.
He called on members to go beyond the monthly exercise and do regular exercise.
“From what I saw, my take home is a number of us are not fit. It could see sedentary lifestyles, the fact that probably the work-related issues and what have you.

“Hence, my clear and call is that the council should endeavour to see that we do more of this.
“Because, if you’re fit, most of these other underlying problems will become a thing of the past,” Jackdin said.