How award elevates teachers and classrooms and boosts learning

L-R: Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Thibaut Boidin; Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Said Ahmad; Winner, 2025 Maltina Teacher of the Year, Serah Yusuf; Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment (CCT&l), Lagos State, Folashade Ambrose-Medebem; Human Resources Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Grace Omo-Lamai, and Corporate Affairs Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Uzodinma Odenigbo, during the presentation of the N10 million grand prize to the winner at the Grand Finale event held in Lagos on Friday.

Looking at the Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award through the years, one can see that the award has made the teaching profession in Nigeria worthwhile. Osa Victor Obayagbona, Chairman, Editorial Board, and Charles Ogwo, Education Reporter, write that the award reminds us of this simple truth: that when teachers thrive, classrooms flourish, and when classrooms flourish, a nation takes its first confident step toward progress.

“Beyond the trophy and applause, the award has introduced something new into the teaching profession: tangible prestige. With prize sums rising steadily over the years, the organisers have demonstrated a seriousness of purpose that goes beyond symbolism.”

Behind every thriving classroom is a teacher who refuses to settle for routine. The kind who stays after the bell rings to explain a difficult concept, who buys extra chalk or marker when the cupboard is empty, who bends the rigid syllabus just enough to make room for imagination. In a country like Nigeria, where public education is routinely challenged by inadequate funding, overcrowded classrooms, and low morale among teachers, such devotion often goes unnoticed. Yet over the past decade, one initiative has steadily changed that narrative: the Nigerian Breweries–Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award.

Established in 2015 through the Nigerian Breweries–Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, the Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award was conceived as more than a ceremonial gesture. It set out to make excellence in teaching visible, celebrated and financially rewarding. In doing so, it has elevated the status of teachers, shone a spotlight on innovative classroom practices, and strengthened learning outcomes across communities.

Teaching, after all, is a nation’s most quiet but consequential craft. Teachers shape citizens long before policies do. They mould thinking, character and confidence, yet for years, many Nigerian teachers have practised their craft in conditions that would discourage even the most passionate professional. Low pay, outdated facilities, and limited opportunities for advancement have made teaching, in the eyes of young Nigerians, a temporary stopover rather than a lifelong vocation.

The Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award directly confronts that crisis of esteem. It does so by telling a powerful story: that great teachers matter and that society is prepared to recognise and reward them. Each year, teachers from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are nominated, evaluated, and celebrated, state by state, before a national champion emerges. The process itself sends a message: excellence in the classroom is as worthy of national acclaim as achievements in sports, business or entertainment.

Since its inception, the award has become a platform for affirming teachers as professionals whose contributions directly shape Nigeria’s future. From Rose Nkemdilim Obi, the inaugural winner in 2015, to Serah Yusuf, the 2025 national honouree, the list of winners reads like a roll call of unsung heroes finally brought into the national limelight. Teachers such as Imoh Essien (2016), Felix Ariguzo (2017), Olasunkanmi Opeifa (2018), Adeola Adefemi (2023) and Esomnofu Ifechukwu (2024) have not only received recognition but have also been transformed into education ambassadors in their communities and beyond.

Read also: Union Bank celebrates Nigeria’s best educators at Maltina Teacher of the Year Awards

Beyond the trophy and applause, the award has introduced something new into the teaching profession: tangible prestige. With prize sums rising steadily over the years, the organisers have demonstrated a seriousness of purpose that goes beyond symbolism. In 2025, the stakes were raised further. The national winner went home with N10 million. The first and second runners-up received N5 million and N3 million, respectively, while each state champion earned N1 million. For a profession long associated with economic struggle, this financial recognition is not trivial. It affirms that intellectual labour in the classroom is worthy of national investment.

Yet money alone does not explain the award’s growing influence. What truly distinguishes the Maltina Teacher of the Year is its broader ecosystem of impact. It brings teachers into a national conversation about education reform, innovation, and leadership. Winners often become advocates for improved schooling, mentors to other educators, and champions of creative teaching methods.

Consider the story of the 2024 winner, who had once made the final list in 2020 as a state champion but fell short at the national stage. Instead of retreating into disappointment, he returned year after year, refining his teaching practice and remaining committed to his pupils. When he eventually claimed the national title in 2024, it was a testament to perseverance and belief in one’s calling. His journey underscored the award’s deeper lesson: excellence is a habit nurtured over time.

For Serah Yusuf, the 2025 winner from the FCT, the recognition came as both a surprise and a charge. A teacher at Wisdom International School of Excellence, she dedicated her award to children in slum communities, many of whom she has supported through grassroots educational initiatives. “With this exciting news,” she said in her acceptance speech, “I am motivated to do more and expand the activities I have done so far in slum communities.” In that short statement lies the true dividend of the award: recognition that multiplies impact.

The award’s credibility is also strengthened by the institutional support it enjoys. It is endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Education and supported by major professional bodies such as the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), and the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPPS). This alignment with both government and professional institutions anchors the award firmly in Nigeria’s educational architecture.

Underlying the award is the broader work of the Nigerian Breweries–Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, established in 1994 with a take-off grant of N100 million. Over three decades, the Fund has built and refurbished over 400 classrooms, libraries and sanitary facilities across 74 communities nationwide. It has also awarded scholarships and invested in teacher development. Through these interventions, the Fund has quietly become one of the most enduring examples of private-sector commitment to public education in Nigeria.

It is telling that entries for the 2025 edition surpassed 2,000, the highest in the competition’s history. For Uzodinma Odenigbo, corporate affairs director, Nigerian Breweries, this surge reflects growing confidence among teachers. “It shows trust,” he says, “and it shows that teachers believe the platform can genuinely transform their lives and careers.”

Thibaut Boidin, managing director, Nigerian Breweries, has described the initiative as a celebration of “the steady hands shaping tomorrow.” His words resonate in a country where classrooms often struggle with basic resources. When a corporate institution places teachers at the centre of its social investment strategy, it sends a strong signal: that education is not merely a government obligation but a collective responsibility.

The Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award is not without its limitations. No single initiative can resolve all of Nigeria’s educational challenges. Issues such as curriculum reform, teacher welfare, and infrastructure deficits still loom large. But within its sphere, the award has proven that recognition can inspire reform from the ground up. It has restored dignity to a profession too long taken for granted.

Perhaps its greatest achievement is cultural. It has changed the conversation about teaching. In a society that increasingly champions wealth and celebrity, it has carved out space for another hero: the teacher who builds minds, not mansions, and who shapes futures, not fortunes.

As Nigeria grapples with unemployment, insecurity and social change, the classroom remains one of the few places where long-term solutions can take root. And in that classroom, the teacher stands as the most decisive factor.

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