- winning students go home with laptops and gifts
- participating schools get monetary support
To mark the International Water Day, the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) in collaboration with the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers, earlier today, held the grand finale of the LWC Annual Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Essay Competition.
According to the MD of LWC, Engr Muminu Badmus, the competition was conceptualized to encourage secondary school students open up to understanding new fields; at the same time equip them with important research skills.
In his address at the event, “A good number of our students took advantage of this opportunity and have submitted scholarly articles packed with unique and exceptional insights. If nothing else, this underscores the fact that these contestants understand the world that we live in and what it takes to thrive in it. They understand that we live in an uneven period with change occurring rapidly and unexpectedly. This means that they realize the need to remain relevant, which in other words means being able to create value”
Engr Funmi Akingbaghohun, the National Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIMECHE) and co-host of the event, remarked that lack of access to appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) continues to cause incalculable deadly consequences on children who are at most risk.
She lamented there were so many children going to school with no safe drinking water, no toilets, no soap for hand washing; risking transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, hypertitis A, typhoid and polio.
Encouraging the Students was the Keynote Speaker, Ms Cherish Jefferson, a 500level Engineering student of the University of Lagos, who spoke quite passionately about the importance of SDG 6 and enjoined all those present to lend their support in whatever capacity they could towards ensuring accelerated change in providing sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
Wrapping up the event was the highlight, when the winning students were presented with personal laptops, gifts and holiday internship opportunities while the participating schools went back with cash gifts of N250,000 each.
Giving the vote of thanks, Engr Badmus promised to ensure that the gains from this competition would be carried on and replicated annually.
Special guests included representatives of the Lagos State Government, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), National Chairman of Nigerian Institution of Environmental Engineers (NIEE), President, Society of Energy Administrators (SEA) and Staff of Lagos Water Corporation.
