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October 5 is World Teachers Day, a day set aside by UNESCO to celebrate teachers. 

Before 2002, World Teachers Day was unknown and uncelebrated in Nigeria. 

That changed with the intervention of the Bournvita brand which I was privileged to manage at the time. 

As part of the strategy to build Bournvita brand equity amongst key influencers of the primary consumer segment, children, we decided to build a social cause program around teachers. 

The idea was to implement a nationwide award scheme and media campaign to celebrate teachers. 

To help our thoughts, I looked up sayings and events globally about teachers and got quotes such as Henry Adams’ which were used in the media campaigns. 

As the idea developed further and we considered when to start the campaign and what date to hold the awards ceremony, I stumbled, via internet search, on the fact that there was a Teachers’ day set by UNESCO being celebrated in some countries. 

We reset our plans and ran the campaign towards that date. Consequently, World Teachers Day was celebrated for the first time in Nigeria, with the Bournvita Teachers Awards holding in Abuja on Saturday, October 5, 2002. 

Author – Lampe Omoyele