Workers in Osun State began a three-day strike on Monday that shut government offices, public schools and some health services, after the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress directed its members to down tools in a sympathy action over withheld local government allocations.
Government offices in Osun were locked on Monday as workers began the strike called by the state NLC, NNN Media reported on 10 November. Reports from Osogbo said the gates of the state secretariat and the House of Assembly were shut, along with the secretariats of Olorunda and Osogbo local governments. Pupils in public schools were sent home because teachers joined the action, and some health facilities were also affected, according to a summary published on 10 November.
The strike began at midnight on Sunday 8 November and is scheduled to end at midnight on Wednesday 11 November, according to Daily News 24, which published its round-up on 10 November. The NLC chairman in Osun, Christopher Arapasopo, and the secretary, Victor Amusan, said in a statement on Sunday that members should join a sympathy strike with the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, known as NULGE. They said it followed the end of a seven-day ultimatum to the federal and state governments over the continued withholding of local government statutory allocations.
A dispute that goes back to February 2025
The dispute over who controls Osun’s councils and their allocations dates back to the early months of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration in 2022, according to NNN Media, and has passed through several court rulings. A fuller account published on 10 November dates the current phase of the dispute to February 2025, when the state government and the opposition All Progressives Congress began contesting control of the council areas. The NLC said the issues raised in its ultimatum had remained unresolved, and that the decision to strike was taken at an emergency meeting of its State Executive Council on 28 October.
News Central reported on 9 November that the strike was directed at all affiliate unions of the NLC’s Osun State Council, and quoted the directive as ordering a “three-day sympathy strike in solidarity with the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Osun State Council”. The congress said the continued uncertainty over the councils’ statutory allocations had worsened the working and economic conditions of local government employees, particularly NULGE members, according to The Public Beacon, which reported on 9 November.
The Osun APC has opposed the strike, according to the 10 November summary. Organised labour has also threatened to withdraw political support for President Bola Tinubu, warning that the dispute over local government funds could affect workers, pensioners and public services across the state, according to AsoVillaPost, which said on 10 November that its report was confirmed by six independent sources, including Punch and BusinessDay.
What happens next
The strike is due to end at midnight on Wednesday 11 November, after three days of disruption to public services in the state.
The World Institute for Peace’s executive director, Lamina Omotoyosi, criticised the strike on 10 November, calling it “needless, barbaric, deceptive” and a possible tactic to destabilise the state’s economy, according to USAfrica Online. He argued at a press conference in Osogbo that the ongoing crisis and legal battles surrounding local government administration make the strike especially problematic. For now, the immediate effect is clear: the secretariat, the assembly and council offices are shut, schools are closed, and the dispute over who controls Osun’s 30 councils — and their money — remains unresolved.
