Exam Day Chaos: Ogun State Schools Shut Doors as Labour Strike Halts Examinations

Exam day in Ogun State ended in disappointment and confusion as thousands of students were sent home mid-examination, victims of a sweeping indefinite strike orchestrated by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and allied unions.

The strike, which began on July 15, 2025, has brought public life to a standstill, shuttering schools, banks, and hospitals across the state.

Public schools such as Salawu Abiola Comprehensive High School, Osiele, and Muslim High School, Isolu, saw students some of them in the midst of crucial third-term exams ordered to vacate classrooms. Distraught students and parents faced locked gates and abrupt directives to leave, with no clear end in sight. 

Eyewitnesses reported that teachers, acting on directives from the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), told students there would be no classes or exams until further notice, aligning with the unified call to suspend all teaching activities statewide.

At the core of the protest is the long-standing crisis surrounding the Ogun State Pension Reform Law (OGSPRL) of 2008 (amended in 2013), which governs the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Organised Labour alleges that, over the 17-year lifespan of the scheme, the state and local governments have only remitted pension deductions for 34 out of 204 months, with most workers’ contributions consistently withheld and not forwarded to their respective Pension Fund Administrators.

This failure has created anxiety over future retirement benefits and, according to union officials, contributed to a steady erosion of workers’ rights and financial security