CWAY Reaffirms Commitment To Youth Development, Celebrates World Water Day 2026 With National Essay Competition, Multi-State Activations
…Splashes over cash prizes, gifts on students and schools; stages simultaneous activations in Lagos, Abuja and Enugu
In furtherance of its corporate responsibility, CWAY Water, Nigeria’s foremost producer of premium drinking water commemorated the World Water Day 2026 with a national slate of activations spanning Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu, reaffirming its sustained commitment to water advocacy, youth development, and community engagement across the country.
The centrepiece of the commemoration was a grand essay competition finale held yesterday at its corporate headquarters in Isolo, Lagos, drawing students, academics, journalists, and key stakeholders into a conversation about this year’s United Nations-designated World Water Day theme: ‘Water and Gender.’
In his opening address, CWAY Water’s Group Marketing Head, Samuel Akinrimisi, set the tone for the day’s proceedings by situating the competition within the brand’s long-standing commitment to social impact. Speaking emphatically, Akinrimisi noted that for CWAY Water, the World Water Day commemoration is never merely ceremonial but an annual opportunity to invest meaningfully in the conversations and communities that will shape Nigeria’s water future.
“For us, water is everything,” he said. “We believe strongly that accessibility to safe, drinkable water is essential to protecting and promoting all genders equally. It is not about male or female, it is about equal responsibility and opportunity.”
Charles Ojo, the company’s Deputy General Manager for Sales Operations, reinforced the message, drawing attention to CWAY Water’s broader national footprint, its production capacity, distribution reach, and refill station network as evidence of a company that does not simply talk about water access but actively works to deliver it. Ojo also highlighted the significant employment the company generates directly and indirectly, underscoring CWAY Water’s role as a corporate anchor in Nigerian communities.
The theme, which the UN adopted to highlight the disproportionate burden that women and girls bear in the global water crisis and to call for greater gender equity in water governance, found a expression in the essays and presentations delivered by six remarkable secondary school students from across Lagos and Ogun States who made the final shortlist.
The competition, which targeted students in Senior Secondary School classes SS1 to SS3, was launched ahead of World Water Day, inviting young Nigerians to grapple seriously with the intersection of water access and gender equality. Entries poured in from schools across Lagos and Ogun States, with submissions closing on Sunday, March 22, coinciding precisely with the global observance of World Water Day.
From hundreds of submitted essays, six finalists were shortlisted for the grand finale: Melody Iboma of Solid Ultimate Academy, Lagos; Fadare Oluwaseunfunmi of FAS Comprehensive College, Ogun State; Oluremi Temidayo Mercy of Coriander Secondary School, Lagos; Emeka Vanessa Victory of Mighty Pillars School, Lagos; Richard Oghagaoghene Eterigbo of St. Margaret Comprehensive College, Lagos; and Oniga Ayomikun of Dee Royale Montessori School, Lagos.
Each finalist was assessed by a distinguished four-member judging panel on the quality of their written essays covering relevance, argument, structure, and language as well as their oral presentation on the day, including delivery, audience engagement, timing, composure under questioning, and overall presentation.
The panel comprised Daniel Obi, Chairman of the Brand Journalist Association of Nigeria (BJAN); Associate Professor Roland Efe Uwadiae of the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos; Mrs. Angela Alisigwe Ifeanyi, HR Manager at CWAY; and Ntia Usukuma, Editor of Brand Communicator magazine.
At the end of the exercise, Fadare Oluwaseunfunmi emerged as the overall winner, taking home a cash prize of ₦300,000, and a premium brand CWAY water dispenser machine. Emeka Vanessa Victory secured second place with ₦200,000 and 25 packs of CWAY bottled water, while Oluremi Temidayo Mercy came third, winning ₦100,000 and 20 packs of bottled water. The remaining finalists, Richard Oghagaoghene Eterigbo, Melody Iboma, and Oniga Ayomikun, placed fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, each receiving cash and packs of CWAY water as consolation prizes.
The intellectual heart of the event was the keynote address delivered by Associate Professor Roland Efe Uwadiae, a return to the CWAY World Water Day platform for the distinguished Marine Scientist, who first delivered a keynote at the same event in 2023. Speaking with the authority of a scholar who has spent decades studying Nigeria’s water systems, Professor Uwadiae anchored his address on a central and uncomfortable question: in a country as water-rich as Nigeria, how is it that millions of women and girls still begin every day with a walk to fetch water?
While the Lagos event is the flagship commemoration, CWAY Water’s World Water Day 2026 footprint extended to both Enugu and Abuja.
In Enugu, CWAY Water took the World Water Day commemoration directly to the commercial heartbeat of the South-East at the Ogbete Market. CWAY Water team moved through the market distributing free, cold bottles of CWAY Water to traders, shoppers, food vendors, and market workers who had been on their feet since before sunrise.
In the Federal Capital Territory, CWAY Water opted for a large-scale awareness walk that took to the streets of Abuja, carrying the World Water Day message to residents across multiple neighbourhoods of the capital city.
