By BANNERNEWS Reporter, Calabar
About 500 residents, fitness enthusiasts, corporate organisations and government officials on Saturday participated in a 12-kilometre walkathon in Calabar to promote unity and healthy living.
The event, organised by the Healthy Billionaires Fitness Club Calabar, was the seventh edition of the annual Calabar Walkathon.
Participants converged at Millennium Park, Calabar, for the exercise themed, “Walk for Unity and Sustainable Development.”
Chairman of the planning committee, Samuel Usoro, said the initiative was aimed at combining physical fitness with advocacy for sustainable development.
Usoro urged Nigerians not to allow religious, ethnic and political differences to undermine their common interests.
“We are one. We all believe the same. We all feel the same way. Let us come together and ask for sustainable development from whoever is responsible—the public sector, the private sector and ourselves individually,” he said.
He also encouraged residents to make regular physical activity part of their lifestyle, noting that walking remained one of the simplest forms of exercise.
Speaking at the flag-off, the Secretary to the Cross River State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan-Enoh, called for greater unity among citizens to sustain development in the state.
Owan-Enoh said sustainable development required the collective efforts of government, the private sector and citizens.
Assistant Secretary of the club, Hope Obeten, said the annual walkathon began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to promote healthy living and bring residents together around social causes.
He said the choice of unity as this year’s theme was informed by the need to encourage peaceful coexistence as the country approaches another election cycle.
“No matter the divide, no matter the political parties that we are, nothing will be as strong as unity going into an election year,” Obeten said.
He added that the club had undertaken medical outreaches, paid medical bills for indigent patients and visited vulnerable families as part of its activities.
Obeten urged Nigerians to maintain peace before, during and after elections, stressing that political differences should not lead to violence.
