Unilever Engages Lagos Pupils On Lifebuoy Soap Project

Unilever Nigeria PLC has created  a  platform  for  about 38,000  school  children  to  wash  hands  simultaneously using the Lifebuoy health soap at  the Tafawa Balews Square, Lagos in the presence  of  representatives  of Guinness  World  Record   managers  in the country, members  of  the  Federal  Ministry  of  Health  as  well  as  representatives  of  the Lagos  state  government.

The feat, by Unilever, was captured by the Guinness Book of  World Record.  The recognition, the  first  of  its  kind for  such a brand in the country, has  put  Nigeria  on  the  global map  for  the  world  record  of  most  people  washing  hands at the same time in one location,  thereby promoting  hygiene.

Brand Building  Director  of  Unilever, David  Okeme  said  that   we  created  the  hand  washing  platform  to  drive  awareness  of  an  inexpensive  habit of  hand washing  that  will  drastically  reduce occurrence of diarrhea and other related sicknesses. This will greatly reduce infant mortality rate among children under five years.

Okeme said: “Unilever and Lifebuoy  are  very  excited  by  this  recognition, but  most importantly, we  will  appreciate  a  situation  where we  all   develop  and  boldly  hold  on  to  the  hand  washing  habit  at critical times especially after  the use of toilets, before and after meal consumption, among others.

“Another target, we set was to achieve five million people pledging to defeat diarrhea through regular hand washing.  We tagged it ‘Africa’s Biggest Pledge to Defeat Diarrhea’ and we achieved over seven million pledges.”

Okeme said the achievement of over five million pledges has led Unilever to donate ten million naira among the six hundred schools that participated in the hand-washing event. The schools he revealed would be furnished with washing points that will improve the habits of hand washing and the sanitary conditions of the environment.