Osinbajo stresses importance of teachers to national development

Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has commended teachers in the country, saying they play critical roles  in national development and in the lives of students at all levels of education.

He made this observation in Lagos at the grand finale of this year’s edition of the Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year (MTOY) Award ceremony held in Lekki, last week.

Osinbajo narrated how his teachers, particularly in his secondary school days, greatly impacted him, saying that the   roles of teachers in the lives of students at every stage of their studies is worthy of commendation.”

He said that was why he commended the Nigerian Breweries Plc for instituting MTOY Awards to identify and reward exceptional teachers.

He noted that the initiative is certainly yielding great results in the teaching profession and education sector.

MTOY award is an initiative of the Nigerian Breweries Plc, domiciled under its humanitarian arm –Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, to identify, showcase and reward committed and hardworking secondary school teachers nationwide.

The competition, which is free and open to all secondary school teachers nationwide, had produced seven past winners while the current champion,  Alaku Ayiwulu, a teacher from Plateau State is now the eighth winner of the award.

Ayiwulu, who teaches at the Federal Government College, Jos, defeated other 1, 026 contestants from across the country and had been rewarded just like his predecessors with N6.5 million money prize among other benefits for his efforts.

Speaking separately earlier, the chairman of Nigerian Breweries, Chief Kola Jamodu, and the director of Corporate Affairs, Sade Morgan, emphasised that the award initiative was meant to recognise hard work and diligence among teachers and celebrate them so as to boost their morale and that of their colleagues for an improved performance.

They commended the independent panel of judges who assessed all the entries and congratulated the top three winners and their colleagues on their achievements, promising that the company would continue to add value to the teaching profession and the education sector generally.

In his own remark, Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the event by the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, said MTOY initiative is a huge investment on Nigerian teachers, commending Nigerian Breweries for the effort.

He urged the teachers nationwide to always threat their students as their own children and do all they could to train them to become successful in life.