Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund has revealed that 33 states across the federation are up in battle for the maiden edition of the Maltina Teacher of the Year. Aside Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara and Nasarawa states, 33 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja will be competing for the national prize aimed at restoring the dignity and pride of the teaching profession in Nigeria.

The Corporate Affairs Adviser of Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Kufre Ekanem, disclosed this during the inaugural meeting of the Panel of Judges that would further scrutinise and examine entries for the on-going Maltina Teacher of the Year initiative. According to him, the 33 states in contention for the national honours are states that still have valid entries competing for the project grand prize.

Ekanem explained that the project received thousands of entries from across the states of the federation. However, only a couple of hundreds of the entries were shortlisted and validated to compete for the initiative's coveted prize by the stringent project assessors who trimmed the entries down after a thorough and painstaking examination.

The valid entries in contention are from the following states: Anambra, Enugu, AkwaIbom, Adamawa, Abia, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Taraba, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Edo, Bauchi, Katsina, Benue, Bayelsa and Borno. Others are: Niger, Kebbi, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, Osun, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

After jumping the project assessors' hurdles, Ekanem informed that the valid entries will be subject to further scrutiny and thorough assessment process by the recently constituted Panel of Judges, who are charged with determining who becomes the Maltina Teacher of the Year on October 12, when the winners will be announced and celebrated at a grand event in Lagos.

The panelists include Prof. Mopelola O. Omoegun, Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos; Prof. Thomas I. Ofuya , Vice Chancellor, Wellspring University and Member, Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities; Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, Chairman Editorial Board, ThisDay Newspapers; Dr. Abdulrahman Binta Fatima, National President, All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools; Professor Tijjani Abubakar, Dean, Faculty of Education, Ahmadu Bello University and Prof. Pat Utomi, Founder/CEO, Centre for Values in Leadership who was unanimously selected by his co-judges to Chair the Panel.

The 10 best entries will thereafter be invited for the grand finale where the panel will further subject the 10 finalists to rigorous scrutiny in order to determine who truly should be named the Maltina Teacher of the Year.