The wife of the Anambra State Governor, Nonye Soludo, has urged Nigerians to embrace walking and cycling to reduce vehicular air pollution and promote a healthy lifestyle.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, she made the call during a media chat on Tuesday in Awka to promote her project, Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Campaign.
She said that Nigeria needed to do more in the area of vehicular pollution, which was one of the primary causes of air pollution driving climate change in society.
She said, “The emissions from our vehicles are polluting the air and environment, and this is hazardous to human health.
“We need to introduce and embrace cycling to reduce carbon emissions and exposure. It is a clean mode of transport and a fitness choice with health benefits.
“Sometimes we need to park our cars and walk more, especially if we are not going a long distance.”
She said that the healthy living campaign was aimed at promoting good nutrition, environmental cleanliness, basic life skills, and sound morals in society.
Mrs. Soludo said she had started taking the campaign to primary and secondary schools to help children imbibe the culture of healthy living.
“I started championing Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo 10 years ago. I give talks on healthy lifestyles and good diets with our local foods.
“I want to bring the message home to our people because we need to be healthy to achieve a liveable and prosperous homeland.
“I have started forming Healthy Living Clubs in our schools to inculcate the culture of healthy lifestyles and catch them young so that they can grow into responsible adults.
“Our children need to get addicted to eating healthy, doing physical exercises, and practising environmental hygiene to stay healthy, rather than getting addicted to their phones and social media,” she said.
She urged Nigerians to cut down on processed foods and embrace backyard farming to harvest and eat natural foods.
“Our local foods are readily available and cheap. They are also energy-giving, healing, and medicinal for our body systems, organs, and general health.
“We need to say no to processed foods, make conscious efforts to eat well with more grammes of fibre, and do 30 minutes of exercise daily.
“We are partnering with religious and community leaders to drive this message home within Anambra and beyond,” Mrs. Soludo added.
