By Erubasa Ovueraye | iNewsAfrica Op-Ed Contributor
When Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, led by High Chief Government Ekpemupolo—better known as Tompolo—donated ₦10 billion to the Delta State Security Trust Fund and built a school within the Okere Correctional Centre in Warri, it sparked national applause. The act was hailed as visionary, patriotic, and evidence that private actors can drive public good.
Yet beneath the ovation lies a sobering question: why must prisoners gain access to better classrooms than many free citizens in Delta State?
From Ughelli to Sapele, Warri to Asaba, the state’s public schools stand as painful metaphors of neglect—leaking roofs, overcrowded classrooms, broken desks, and pupils learning under trees. Teachers remain underpaid and unmotivated, while billions are routinely invested in security architecture. This imbalance between protecting the state and nurturing its minds reveals a dangerous distortion in our development priorities.
Security and education are not opposing agendas—they are two sides of the same coin. When a generation is well-educated, security stabilizes; when education collapses, crime flourishes. As Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Sadly, in Delta State, that weapon has grown blunt.
Tantita’s school inside the Warri prison is both symbolic and ironic. It offers a second chance to inmates, yet reminds us of a system where the classroom has become a privilege instead of a right. In an oil-rich state, no one should have to go to prison to enjoy a decent learning environment.
If government and corporate donors can establish a Security Trust Fund, they can—and must—create an Education Trust Fund and a Health Trust Fund. True progress demands balance: protecting citizens’ lives while also empowering their minds.
In the final analysis, a nation that builds schools only inside prisons but neglects them outside has already imprisoned its future. Real security begins not with armed patrols, but with enlightened citizens, functional classrooms, and opportunities that keep young minds away from crime.
Delta State must remember: security without education is a fragile victory.
About the Author:
Erubasa Ovueraye is a Theatre Artist and Sociologist whose work explores the intersection of culture, security, and governance in Nigeria’s socio-economic development. He holds degrees in Theatre Arts and Film Studies, Sociology, and Industrial Relations, with research interests in tourism, human security, and the blue economy in the Niger Delta.
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