MTOY2017: why we intervened in 2015 —Nigerian Breweries

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde has explained that the  decision of the company to extend its intervention programme in education, the Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, to  Nigerian teachers,  in 2015, was informed by the need to  recognize and celebrate the nation’s teachers, who seldom get such recognitions in spite of the pivotal role they play in determining the quality of education in the country.

Making the remarks, through the company’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr Kufre Ekanem, in Lagos, the company’s chief executive expressed delight that the Trust Fund, which was extended to teachers through the Maltina Teacher of the Year  (MTOY) initiative, had in the past two years, produced 42 State Champions and two overall winners.

Vervelde added that the entries for the competition which had since commenced would last till July, this year,  with  each State Champion getting Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500, 000.00), while the top ten teachers would  be recognized before the grand winners are announced.

In a paper to flag-off this  year’s edition of the initiative, a Professor of Educational Management at the University of Lagos,  Aloy Ejiogu, maintained that teachers are unarguably extremely invaluable drivers of societal norms, values and growth.

He noted that no other person can have such an overarching influence on the life of the young members of our society as the teacher.

2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year, Mr Imoh Essien, called on government and other corporate organisations to emulate the gesture of the sponsors of the initiative to motivate teachers and improve the standard of education in the country.

The Maltina Teacher of the Year 2017 will get an additional N1, 000, 000 instantly plus One Million Naira every year for the next five years, a development training opportunity abroad and a block of classrooms built at the school where he/she teaches.