The era when teachers expect to get their rewards in heaven is over, thanks to the management of Nigerian Breweries which has decided to make teachers millionaires here on earth in Nigeria through a novel innovation known as The Maltina Teacher-of the Year Award.
The Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award will make a millionaire out of Nigerian teachers as the national winner of the award will get one million naira and another one million naira to be paid into his account annually for five years. He will also be sent abroad for training by the company. The runner-up will take one million naira, while the second runner-up gets seven hundred and fifty thousand naira. The state winners from 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT will be given five hundred thousand naira each. The school that produces the national winner will also become a beneficiary of infrastructural development and projects running into about 25 million naira.
The award, done on the platform of Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, is aimed at restoring the pride of teachers and the dignity of the teaching profession. It was launched by Maltina, Nigeria’s number one non-alcoholic malt brand on May 20th, 2015 and has generated an unprecedented interest from teachers across the country. Reports from collation centres of the Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year awards across the country indicate that hundreds of secondary school teachers are enthusiastically submitting entries for the coveted award.
In an interactive session with journalists in Lagos on Friday, Emete Tonukari, Corporate Social Responsibility CSR/Sustainability Manager, Nigerian Breweries explained that the project is a CRS project for teachers to make the teaching profession aspirational. “It is not a one-off thing or a sales promotion stunt. It is a pure citizenship project to give back to the society,” she said.
While flagging off the project in May, Kufre Ekanem, the company’s Corporate Affairs Adviser explained that the collection of application forms which opened on Wednesday, 20th May, 2015, would end on Tuesday, 30th June, 2015. This has however been extended to Friday, 24th of July, 2015, based on appeal by teachers for more time to file their entries. 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, Laos.
Ekanem disclosed that all applications will be subjected to an 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 noted, will result in 37 state and FCT champions, from among which the Maltina Teacher- of- the- Year will emerge.
The state champions and national winner will be celebrated in 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, “ Kufre said, adding that the objective of the award is to create an avenue where exceptional teachers will be showcased and rewarded annually and continuously.
Ohiwerei is the first indigenous Chairman of the leading beverage conglomerate which has been operating in the country since 1946. The Trust Fund was established in 1994, with a seed capital of N100 million, to contribute to the development of educational sector in the country.
Over the years, the company has used the fund to assist over 20,000 students, built 250 classrooms and 22 libraries in both primary and secondary schools across 49 communities in the country.
