The Lagos State government has eulogised the sterling performance of one of its secondary school teachers, Adeola Adefemi, who won the overall prize of the Maltina Teacher of the Year (MToY) Award last year.
The state’s Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, gave the commendation on Thursday while inaugurating the multi-million naira computer laboratory donated by the Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwere Education Trust Fund, organizer and sponsor of MToY award, to Adeola’s school as part of her winning prize.
The commissioner described Adeola as a shining star, noting that the state government is proud of her as a diligent, resourceful and committed teacher.
Adeola is an English language teacher at Keke Senior High School, Agege, and she has won several awards both locally and internationally.
She is the first teacher from Lagos State to win MToY since the inception of the competition 10 years ago.
She had before then, won Africa’s best teacher prize instituted by African Union (AU); won the Presidential Best Teacher Prize in Nigeria, won the Best Teacher Prize in Lagos State and also won the 2020 Fulbright Teaching Excellence Prize, among other laurels.
“So, you have done Lagos State proud. I’m particularly proud of you. Your passion and commitment to your job without waiting for anybody to tell you before doing what is right has paid off. It has given you honour, wealth and recognition,” the commissioner acknowledged.
He added, “Now, we see you as a good example to other teachers. You have laid the foundation for others. Just ensure you keep up the tempo and even surpass it while I will implore others to borrow a leaf from you.”
Also commending Nigerian Breweries Plc for instituting the award, the commissioner said the award impacts the teachers, not only in cash rewards but in capacity building training, the teaching profession and the education sector generally.’
He noted that the contribution is yielding great results even as he called on other corporate organisations and individuals to support the state government in providing quality education to the people of the state.
He said the government cannot alone take up such responsibility.
In her remarks, Adeola thanked her school principal, Mrs. Patience Aina Ebunoluwa, and both the state government and Nigerian Breweries Plc for providing respective platforms upon which the digital language laboratory donated to her school.
She said the facility would certainly enhance both the teaching and learning activities in the school.
Earlier, in her keynote speech, the Corporate Affairs Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mrs. Sade Morgan, expressed excitement about the positive impact the company had made in the past years on teachers, students and schools across the country.
She declared that the donated computer laboratory is part of Adeola’s winning prize as MToY in addition to her personal reward of N6.5 million and a short course training programme in Finland.
“So, the facility is a fulfilment of our promise to Adeola based on the pressing need of her school to promote modern and interactive learning techniques,” she stressed.
Morgan whose speech was read by Mr. Chukwuemeka Aniukwu, the Head of Sustainability and Regulatory Relations of Nigerian Breweries Plc, noted that the MToY competition is now 10 years old.
She explained that a total of 241 teachers had been recognised and rewarded within this period, either as star prize winners or state champions and nine schools were equipped with educational facilities such as blocks of classrooms, auditorium, computer labs and a library.
She pointed out that the company has decided to increase the star prize for this year edition to mark the 10th anniversary of the completion to N10 million instead of N6.5 million.
“The first and second-runner-up prize winners, she added, would also receive N3 million instead of N1 million and N2 million instead of N750, 000 respectively while each state champion would go home with N1 million instead of the previous half a million.”
Morgan noted that this year’s award event where the new MToY and other category winners would be unveiled and honoured would be held on Friday 11th of October in Lagos.
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.
The competition, instituted to identify, celebrate and reward exceptional teachers in Nigeria is free and voluntary to all teachers in both public and private secondary schools across the country.
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