Abuja school reaps rewards of ‘Maltina Teacher of the Year’

October 11, 2019 11:19 pm

The Nigerian Breweries, organisers of the “Maltina Teacher of the Year” initiative, has donated a block of classrooms, library and toilet facility to Government Day Secondary School, Karu, Abuja.

The facilities presented on Friday, were part of the prize won by Olasunkanmi Opeifa, winner of the 2018 Maltina Teacher of the Year, a brainchild of the Nigerian Breweries/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund.

Opeifa also got N1.5 million, a capacity development programme plus another N1 million to be paid to him annually for five years.

At the presentation ceremony, Jordi Bel, managing director of Nigerian Breweries, said the gesture was in line with the company’s commitment to advance education in Nigeria.

Represented by Vivian Ikem, head of government relations at the company, Bel said over 35,000 students have been impacted through the project.

He said: “We are happy to always make our contribution to the development of the educational system. Through the establishment of the Nigerian Breweries/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, we have built over 400 classrooms and over 35 libraries equipped with furniture and books and in the process impacted over 35,000 students in both primary and secondary schools across 74 communities in Nigeria.”

He said the rationale behind the “Teacher of the Year” initiative was that teachers hardly get the recognition they deserved “despite their pivotal role in determining the quality of education and future of Nigeria.”

Bel also said the school facilities donated would ensure a win-win for the teacher and community.

Adamu Adamu, minister of education, lauded the project while commending the Nigerian Breweries for its efforts at developing the educational sector.

Represented by Lami Amodu, director of basic and secondary education at the ministry, Adamu said: “With initiatives as the Maltina Teacher of the year and the various school intervention programmes, the story of the education development in Nigeria cannot be complete without Nigerian Breweries.”