The last year winner of Maltina Teacher of the Year (MTOY) award, Mr Olasunkanmi Opeifa, has said Nigerian Breweries Plc had fulfilled its promises to build one block of six classrooms, a library and toilet facilities for his school- Government Day Secondary School, Karu, Abuja-as rewards for producing him a winner of the award.
The facilities are outside his personal rewards which include, N1.5 million won for emerging the overall and state winner, and another N5 million to be paid to him and spread equally for five years, and also to enjoy all-expenses-paid capacity development programme abroad.
MTOY annual award is an initiative of Nigerian Breweries Plc domiciled under its humanitarian arm- Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund- to identify and showcase committed and hardworking secondary school teachers nationwide and consequently lift the education sector and the economy as a whole. And this year’s edition, fifth in the series, will hold tomorrow Friday in Lagos.
However, Opeifa, an English language teacher defeated all other Nigerian secondary school teachers in both the public and private schools to earn the award, which was won previously by Mrs Rose Nkemdilim Obi from Anambra State; Mr. Imoh Essien from Akwa Ibom State (2016) and Mr Felix Ariguzo from Delta State in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively.
He pointed out that the new set of what he called 21st-century classrooms and eight units of toilet facilities -which had already been inaugurated- would help greatly in solving particularly the overcrowded classrooms challenge facing the school and also serve as a model for the government when to build classrooms for any school in future.
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“I really commend the Nigerian Breweries for the gesture and also charge my colleagues to rededicate themselves to the profession for better results in the education sector,” Opeifa stressed.
On his part, the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel, at the inauguration, reaffirmed that lifting of schools by the company through the award initiative is to recognize hardwork and diligence among teachers so as to boost their morale for improved performance and by extension, education development in the country.
Represented at the event by the Head, Government Relations of the company, Mr. Vivian Ikem, the managing director, in a statement made available to newsmen, explained that through the education trust fund, the company had built more than 400 classrooms and 35 equipped libraries and numerous toilet facilities in both primary and secondary schools in 74 communities nationwide.
Also, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who was represented by the Director, Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Lami Amodu, commended Nigerian Breweries for providing the platform, saying the impact had truly shown in the performance of both the teachers and their students and also the education sector across the country.
and then