Barely two weeks after she won the Africa’s best teacher prize instituted by the African Union(AU), Adeola Adefemi, a Lagos public school teacher, won again, Maltina Teacher of the Year (MToY) Award for this year.
She was announced winner of the award on Friday night at the grand-finale of the competition and award ceremony held in Lekki, Lagos.
The Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the state’s Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun; Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu; Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Mrs Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin; the Registrar of the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria(TRCN), Prof Josiah Ajiboye, Prof Patrick Utomi, and the Lagos State Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Hassan Akintoye, were among dignitaries in attendance.
By this development, Adefemi, an English language teacher at Keke Senior High School, Agege, under the state’s Education District 1, will be the first teacher from Lagos State to win MToY Award since inception of the competition nine years ago.
Interestingly, just last year, Adefemi first won the Best Teacher Prize in Lagos State and was celebrated and rewarded by Governor Babajide Sanwo- Olu, with an SUV car. Later same year, she won again, the Presidential Best Teacher Prize in Nigeria and was given another SUV by the Federal Government.
Adefemi, who is also a 2020 Fulbright Teaching Excellence award winner, defeated all other 1,498 teachers, who submitted entries for MToY award contest this year nationwide.
Mr. Azuh Chike Emmanuel of Ezemu Girls Grammar School, Delta State and Adam Abdulqadir Nda of Model Science College, Niger State, won the second and third prize positions.
While Adefemi will receive a total cash prize of N6.5 million (N1.5 million immediately and N1 million every year for the next five years if she remains as a teacher), a gold trophy and also entitled to all expenses-paid short course studies overseas and a block of classrooms or laboratory worth N20 million for her school, the first and second runners-up will get N1.5 million and N1.25 million respectively for their efforts.
MToY Award is an annual competition being organised and sponsored by Nigerian Breweries Plc under its social corporate arm, NB-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, for teachers in both public and private secondary schools across the country. And the competition which is free and voluntary to all teachers and had produced eight past winners so far, is to identity, celebrate and reward exceptional teachers in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the state’s commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, lauded Nigerian Breweries for instituting the competition, saying it’s really yielding tremendous results not only in the teaching profession but also in the education sector and the economy at large.
He said education is a collective responsibility of both the government and the citizens, hence the state readiness to welcome and encourage private sector participation in any areas possible.
In his own remark, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu also commended Nigerian Breweries for the competition, saying it is an investment that will leave a long lasting legacy for the country.
He observed that MToY Award is not only encouraging healthy competition among teachers nationwide, but also stemming the brain drain syndrome among Nigeria’s teachers.
While declaring that no meaningful education reform can take place without teachers’ inputs, he congratulated all the award winners and urged them not to rest on their oars.
On his part, the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Hans Essaadi, represented by the Corporate Affairs Director of the company, Mrs. Sade Morgan, commended the panel of judges led by Prof Patrick Utomi, a political-economist cum politician, that screened and assessed the work of all the contestants before picking the best among them, for their service and dedication to the initiative.
Essaadi also appreciated the vital role played by long standing partners, particularly the Federal Ministry of Education, Lagos State Government, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Nigeria Union of Teachers as well as the 2023 co-sponsors-Air Peace and Stanbic IBTC.
He noted that the competition, which had produced eight past winners, has really brought great revolution into teaching profession in the country and that Nigerian Breweries Plc would not relent in its social intervention efforts towards quality education in the country.
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