The NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL)/Seplat Energy Joint Venture has commissioned two Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) laboratories at Ogbe and Uselu Secondary Schools in Edo State. The facilities were officially opened on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Benin City. Located in Oredo and Ikpoba Okha Local Government Areas, the laboratories are part of the joint venture's corporate social investment in education. The project aims to improve practical learning in STEM-related subjects while integrating arts into the curriculum.
Representatives of NEPL/Seplat JV stated the initiative supports sustainable community development through enhanced access to quality education. The laboratories are equipped with modern instructional materials and digital tools to support interactive learning. Students are expected to gain hands-on experience in scientific experimentation and technological application. The initiative follows earlier interventions by the joint venture in Edo State's education sector.
Local education officials commended the intervention, noting that such facilities address infrastructure gaps in public schools. The commissioning event was attended by community leaders, school administrators and representatives from the oil and gas sector. No financial figures were disclosed regarding the cost of the project.
The commissioning of STEAM laboratories by the NEPL/Seplat JV in two Edo State secondary schools reveals the growing role of oil sector joint ventures in filling public education gaps—particularly where state capacity is visibly thin. It is not lost on observers that a corporate entity, not the state government, is delivering critical learning infrastructure in science and technology, areas central to national development.
This intervention fits within a broader pattern where multinational oil firms and their Nigerian partners assume quasi-governmental roles in host communities. While the laboratories offer real value to students in Ogbe and Uselu, they also spotlight the retreat of state responsibility in basic infrastructure. The fact that such projects are repeatedly hailed as milestones suggests a normalization of corporate substitution for governance—especially in the Niger Delta, where resource wealth has long failed to translate into public goods.
For students and teachers in these schools, the labs mean improved access to modern teaching tools and potential gains in academic performance. Yet the benefits remain localized, leaving thousands of other public school learners in Edo and beyond without similar support.
This is not philanthropy but a structural symptom: Nigeria's education system now depends on the goodwill of extractive industry players, not a coherent national policy.
