For many years, the welfare of teachers has always agitated the minds of well-meaning stakeholders, including the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), demanding an improved welfare package for its members across the country.
No development-minded nation will ignore the role of teachers in grooming future leaders and preparing future generations to be competitive in the global market.
Teachers play a vital role in training, coaching, and determining the quality of education, which is critical to sustainable national development. They are regarded as the builders of the future and wealth of nations and therefore deserve to be encouraged and celebrated.
But only a few organisations understand the critical role that professionally qualified and trained teachers play in the sustainability and future growth of the country. One of such organisations is the Nigerian Breweries Plc, which has Plcthe popular Maltina Teacher of the Year Initiative since 2015.
The initiative, a brainchild of the Felix Ohiweeri Trust Fund, has provided a platform for exceptional teachers to be identified, showcased, and rewarded. It is also aimed at restoring the pride of teachers and the dignity of the teaching profession while demystifying the long-held belief that a teachers’ reward is in heaven.
With prizes worth over N50 million annually, the Maltina Teacher of the Year has been rewarding commitment and diligence to duty by exceptional teachers wherever they may be in the country.The 2021 overall winner, Abanika Taiye, alongside 32 others, was honoured for their exceptional teaching performance at an event that was graced by virtually all the stakeholders in the education sector.
Taiye, a Basic Technology and Technical Drawing teacher with James Hope College, Agbor in Delta, emerged the winner of the 2021 Maltina Teacher of the Year at the grand finale held at the Eko Hotel and Suites Lagos.
With his emergence as the winner of the seventh edition of the initiative, he will receive a total cash prize of N6.5 million (N1.5 million immediately and N1 million annually for the next five years) from the Nigerian Breweries – Felix Ohiwerei Trust Fund.
Apart from the cash gift, he would also be rewarded with other incentives, including an all-expense-paid capacity development training abroad, a fully equipped computer laboratory or a six-classroom block worth N20 million to be built for his school in his honour by the Fund