Ministry applauds ‘Maltina Teacher of the Year Award’

THE Federal Ministry of Education (FME), has commended Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc, the brain behind the “Maltina Teacher of the Year Award” for coming up with the initiative.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala, Nwaobiala while receiving the management team of the sponsoring firm recently in his office noted that the initiative would encourage other corporate organisations to identify and support the  programmes geared towards the development of the education sector.

He said that the ministry was delighted with project, which was coming at the time when teachers’ credibility was in doubt, adding that the reward programme will spur teachers across the country to step up.

“I want to commend NB for initiating the Maltina Teacher of the Year programme because it aligns perfectly with our vision to bring back the glory days when teaching was a respectable profession and people took pride in teaching. We all must join hands to bring dignity and prestige to teachers if we want to see improvement in our education system,” the permanent secretary stated.

Corporate Affairs Adviser of NB Plc, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, remarked that the award, packaged on the platform of Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, was targeted at restoring the pride of teachers and the dignity of the profession.

“It was launched by Maltina, non-alcoholic malt brand on May 20th, 2015 and has generated an unprecedented interest from teachers across the country.”

He advised interested teachers to download the application forms from the Maltina website, www.maltina-nigeria.com and upload to the site or return via the company’s post office mail box at P.M.B. 12632, Marina, Lagos.

He said that all the applications would be subjected to intense selection and judging process by an external and independent panel of judges, which has been constituted to ensure transparency, credibility and objectivity of the exercise.

The 5-step evaluation process of the entries received, he added, would produce 37 champions from the 36 States of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), from which 10 finalists will emerge.

The state champions and national winners he said, will be celebrated at a grand ceremony on Monday, October 5, 2015, a day set aside by the United Nations to mark the World Teachers Day. “We hope that through this initiative, we can inspire the nation to accord our teachers their deserved credit and bring back respect to the teaching profession in Nigeria.”

Meanwhile the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)/Sustainability Manager, NB, Emete Tonukari, has disclosed that deadline for entry for the award has been extended to Friday, July 24, 2015 in response to teachers’ demands across the country.

The national winner of the competition will go home with N1m cash award, with another N1m to be paid into the winner’s account on yearly basis for the next five years. The winner will also enjoy all-expenses-paid training abroad, while a project worth N25m will be sited in his/her school.

The runner-up will also win N1m cash award, while the second runner-up would receive N750 cash award.  The state winners from the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT will be given N500, 000 each.