Mr Francis Taiwo Solanke, an educator at Ansar-ud-Deen Primary School, Ogun State, was recently honoured by the Federal Government after emerging as the Overall Best Performing Teacher Nationwide for 2025. He received N50 million, a car and a house in recognition of his outstanding performance. In this interview with CLEMENT IDOKO, Solanke, who was also named as the Best Teacher in the Primary School category in Ogun State for 2025, speaks about the recognition, his journey into the teaching profession and his passion for shaping young minds. Excerpts:

What is really behind your success as a teacher, going by the various awards you have received in the past?

Success in everything requires sacrifice and strong commitment to what you are doing. When you make consistent sacrifices, you will achieve your goal. You must make a daily commitment to what you are doing to succeed. More importantly, as a teacher, you have to understand that tomorrow’s leaders and the future generations are the ones you interact with daily. Therefore, you need to be determined to help the destinies that God has placed in your hands as a teacher. You have to do your best and strive to change their narratives, ensuring that they do not leave your class the way they met you. Then you would have impacted the lives of the children entrusted to you by their parents.

To me, this is what being a teacher means, and I do my best to ensure that even the most timid among them finds his voice, gains confidence and can stand on his feet. As a teacher, you don’t see your job as work you are being paid to do; your focus and joy should be on the lives you are going to transform and the destinies of young Nigerians you are going to shape. That is the difference between teaching and other professions. The children entrusted to you are the future of any nation. When you know that you have destinies to raise, characters to mould and foundations to lay that will shape lives, and you also bear in mind that these children could one day teach your own children and grandchildren, it therefore means you have to do the job to the best of your ability. A day will come when God will acknowledge your good work.

How do you feel emerging as the overall best teacher in Nigeria, and consistently too, because you also clinched the position during the 2025 World Teachers’ Day celebration?

I feel good and excited to be so honoured. I’m really overwhelmed with joy, and I have to thank the Ministers of Education for putting together the reward system. It will serve as motivation for other teachers. You saw that it was the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who presented my award to me.

However, I want to thank my education-friendly Governor, the Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, for his unwavering commitment to teachers’ welfare and huge investment in education. I also appreciate him for celebrating excellence, because our governor has made it a custom to celebrate teachers every year, and this is a testament to what we are seeing today. This is one reason teachers across Ogun State have continued to emerge as shining examples nationally and internationally. I also want to use this opportunity to thank the governor of Borno State for gifting me a car. I pray that he will continue to move higher and higher by the grace of God.

With the rigorous selection process, were you expecting this honour?

To be candid with you, I wasn’t expecting it. All I do is keep putting in my best every day. I wake up every day with the mindset that I have a lot to do to better the lot of our future citizens and our global children. These are my thoughts. But I know that a day is coming when God will remember and honour me.

What are some of the key contributions you make as a teacher that made you outstanding and emerge as best teacher in Nigeria?

Well, I put in my best when it comes to literacy and numeracy. Of course, I am a debate coach. Not only am I a debate coach in my school, but also in the state, and by virtue of that, I have produced learners who made the state proud at the Presidential Debate Championship held in Abuja, emerging as overall champions.

Not only that, I have nurtured learners who made the state proud at the Public Primary School Debate Championship. I have also produced learners who emerged as overall champions in the primary category at the Competition of Yoruba Teachers and Culture of Nigeria, which was held in Oyo State in 2024. These are some of the little ways I have been trying my best.

As a digital teacher, because I am a Microsoft Innovative Educator, I am also a content writer and have contributed to Ogun State’s digital lesson plan for teachers. This has helped to ease the teaching and learning process and, by extension, improve learners’ outcomes.

What informed your choice of the teaching profession in a country where teaching, a noble job, has been relegated to the background?

Let me use the words of Nelson Mandela here. He said, “Education is a tool by which we can transform society.” For me, I also believe that if we are to transform society, education is truly the tool. That is why I found my feet in education — to transform our society, to help people and to wipe away illiteracy in our communities. Also, knowing that some teachers helped me, I want to help others. This is what brought me into education. My motivation for teaching is to help transform the lives of young Nigerians.

Tell us about your family life.

I am married with children. My wife is a PhD student at Tai Solarin University of Education, and the Lord has blessed our 17-year marriage with three adorable children.

What is your advice to other teachers across the country?

I know for a fact that all my colleagues out there are doing a wonderful job. I know the effort a teacher puts into the development of a child right from kindergarten. My encouragement to them is not to relent or feel that nobody is watching them, but to continue giving their best, even when no one seems to notice. They should continue to make sacrifices. The day will come when the Lord will remember them, send help to them and showcase them.

I also use this opportunity to call on governments at all levels to invest more in the welfare and development of teachers. Teachers are the pillars of education. They require better remuneration, training and empowerment to deliver quality education in the country. (Nigerian Tribune)