The Chairman,
Gategold Nigeria Limited, Sir Goodluck Etorn Obi has appealed to the Federal Government to reduce duty on fitness equipment in the country, as this would ensure that more Nigerians live healthy and contribute meaningfully to economic advancement of the nation.
He stressed the need for Nigerians to have more access to the equipment at all times and noted that the only way to make the possible was for the duty on fitness equipment t be removed.
The chairman of the health fitness and wellness company lamented that while drug which falls into curative healthcare is given due attention by the government, healthy living which falls under preventive healthcare should be given more priority by encouraging Nigerians to take to healthy lifestyle.
Obi debunked the general believe in many quarters that gym, or fitness equipment is for the rich, saying it is for people of all financial standing.
“It is time we start seeing fitness equipment as preventive medicine, necessary for a healthy living standard”, he stated.
He noted that many health conditions which have continued to drain greater chunk of the nation’s economy through foreign exchange is attributable to lack of physical fitness, adding that the impact on the population has continued to soar.
Obi re-emphasised that if duty on fitness equipment coming into the country are removed or reduced and local production encouraged, it will make the equipment cheaper and readily available to most Nigerians who erroneous believe that the fitness is for the rich alone.