23 November 2025
Serah Yusuf, a teacher from Wisdom International School of Excellence, Lugbe, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, has emerged the winner of the 2025 Maltina Teacher of the Year (MToY) Award.
Her victory was announced on Friday night in Lagos at the grand finale of the competition held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island.
The event was attended by many eminent personalities, including the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by Mrs. Folashade Ambrose (the state’s Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trades and Investments), the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Said Ahmad, among others.
With her emergence as current MToY Award winner, Serah, who teaches English Language, became the third teacher from FCT to win the award in its 11th years history.
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Messrs. Olasunkanmi Opeifa, also an English language teacher at the Government Day Secondary School, Karu, and Collins Ezem, a Christian Religious Studies teacher at Royal Family Academy, Wuye, both in Abuja, won the 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Meanwhile, Serah’s dedication to academic excellence has earned her several accolades before now, including the Phenomenon Edupreneur Challenge 2025 and the IDEE National Teachers Prize 2025. And her work continues to advance STEM education, community development, and gender equity across Nigeria.
As the 2025 grand prize winner, Serah’s reward include N10 million, a gold trophy, a certificate of excellence, and she will also attend all-expenses-paid capacity development programme abroad, while her school will also be provided with developmental projects worth N20 million for producing her.
The first and second runners-up (Adeola Akinsulure, a teacher at Omole Senior Grammar School, Ikeja, Lagos state and Chibuzor Amarikwa from Deeper Life High School, Yola Adamawa State) also received N5 million and N3 million and a certificate of excellence respectively while N1 million was awarded to each state champion for their efforts.
MToY award, an annual event with this year’s 11th edition is an initiative of Nigerian Breweries Plc domiciled under its humanitarian arm- Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund- to identify and showcase committed and hardworking secondary school teachers nationwide and consequently lift the education sector and the economy as a whole. It is free to participants and since inception, up to 278 teachers including the star prize winners have been identified and rewarded with different prizes. No fewer than 2,010 teachers submitted entries this year nationwide, the pool from which an independent panel of judges led by Prof Pat Utomi assessed their works and selected all the category winners.
In his remarks at the event, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, who is the Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investments, praising the credibility and impact that the MToY Awards had made in the country.
According to him, teaching is not just a job it is a calling. It is the unseen force that powers every profession and strengthens every sector.
“Teaching is not just a job it is a calling. It is the unseen force that powers every profession and strengthens every sector.”
“So, to every teacher being recognized today, Lagos State celebrates you. Nigeria celebrates you. Your impact is loud—in every success story and every thriving community,” Sanwo-Olu said, urging them and their colleagues across the country to be more committed to their profession.
Also speaking, the MD/CEO of Nigerian Breweries Plc and Chairman of the Nigerian Breweries–Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, Thibaut Boidin, reflected on his experience arriving in Nigeria five months earlier.
He stated, “Even before my plane touched down, I kept hearing about something called the Maltina Teacher of the Year. I was intrigue in my few months here, Nigeria has been my classroom. Every encounter has been a lesson—sometimes in humility, sometimes in joy, always in growth.”
Boidin emphasized the power of education with a quote from Jean Jacques Rousseau and celebrated teachers as the “steady hands shaping tomorrow.”
According to him, a good teacher is like a candle it consumes itself to light the way for others. Tonight, we say: we see you; we value you, and we urge you to keep lighting the way.
