Your Excellency, Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu,
This letter is a respectful appeal and a civic call to recognise excellence where it truly matters — in our classrooms. Lagos State has long positioned itself as a centre of innovation, progress and human capital development. Today, one of your own teachers is standing on the global stage, carrying the Lagos and Nigerian flag with pride, merit and integrity. Her name is Mrs. Adeola Olufunke Oduloye Akinsulure.
Mrs. Akinsulure, a biology teacher at Omole Senior Grammar School, Ikeja, is among the Top 10 teachers in the world at the 2026 Global Teacher Prize, an honour often described as the Nobel Prize for Teaching. This is not a nomination handed out lightly. She emerged from thousands of teachers across continents, selected strictly on impact, innovation, and transformative results. In November 2025, she had earlier been named First Runner-Up at the Maltina Teacher of the Year Award, further affirming her consistency and excellence.
Your Excellency, this achievement goes far beyond personal glory. It places Lagos State and Nigeria on the global education map at a time when the nation desperately needs positive narratives. Mrs. Akinsulure’s classroom outcomes alone are compelling: under her leadership, biology pass rates at her school jumped from 45.3% in 2021 to 99% in 2022, a performance that has been sustained. These are not abstract theories; they are measurable results that speak directly to educational reform and accountability.
Her credentials are equally impressive. Trained in Biochemistry, with a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Mrs. Akinsulure represents the modern Nigerian teacher — academically grounded, technologically adept and socially conscious. Her teaching style blends edutainment, role play, indigenous storytelling, animations and low-cost digital tools, proving that innovation does not always require extravagant funding, but vision and dedication.
Beyond her own school, she has impacted the wider education ecosystem through the SOAR+T Teaching Model, an instructional framework integrating technology, mentorship, gamified assessment and real-world problem-solving. Through this model, she has trained over 30,000 teachers across Nigeria and beyond, multiplying her impact exponentially. Few civil servants, in any sector, can credibly claim such reach.
Mrs. Akinsulure is also a powerful symbol in line with the objectives of the National Teachers’ Summit, the Federal Ministry of Education, and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. As a female science teacher, she is breaking barriers and inspiring young girls to see STEM as a space where they belong. Through initiatives such as REACHHer Hub and Confident Girls, Healthy Choices, she has supported over 500 girls in 106 schools with leadership training, menstrual health education and dignity kits. This is nation-building at its most practical level.
Her commitment to global citizenship and sustainability further strengthens the case for state recognition. From coordinating Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) exchanges with schools in the United States, to mentoring students who have secured international scholarships, to leading environmental projects that recycled over 3,000kg of plastic waste and planted 500 trees, Mrs. Akinsulure embodies the values Lagos State seeks to project to the world.
Your Excellency, recognising Mrs. Adeola Akinsulure is not merely about honouring one individual. It is about sending a message — to teachers across Lagos, to young people watching, and to the global community — that excellence, dedication and innovation in public service will never go unnoticed. A formal state recognition, commendation, or honour would not only be deserved, it would be strategic.
Lagos has always prided itself on rewarding excellence. At this historic moment, as one of your teachers stands in Dubai among the world’s finest educators, I humbly appeal that Lagos State stands firmly behind her. Doing so will reinforce your administration’s commitment to education, inspire thousands of teachers, and remind the world that Lagos does not just produce talent — it celebrates it.
Thank you, Your Excellency, for your continued service and leadership.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned lagos-based educator.
