Female BECE Candidates Get Relief as Alaafin Modifies Oro Festival Restrictions

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade I, has approved a slight modification to this year’s Oro Festival to enable female candidates sitting For BECE to write their examinations.

The announcement was contained in a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity to the Alaafin, Bode Durojaiye.

Oro Festival is a patriarchal Yoruba traditional practice observed to appease deities, enforce communal justice, and cleanse towns of malevolent spirits, following a monarch’s death and involves male-only rituals and curfews where women and non-initiates must stay indoors.

According to the statement, the festival will hold in Oyo city from July 23 to July 29, 2026

Durojaiye said the adjustment became necessary because the BECE for Junior Secondary School 3 (Basic 9) students coincides with the festival.

The statement noted that the examination is administered by state Ministries of Education, the West African Examinations Council or the National Examinations Council, depending on the region.

Announcing the adjustment, the Baale of Jabata, Chief Orowale Ajani, said female students affected by the movement restriction on the last day of the festival would now be allowed to move until 5 p.m.

“The female students should note that restrictions of movement placed on them on the last day of the festival, which is 29th of this month, has been shifted till 5 p.m. to enable concerned pupils write the national examinations,” the statement quoted Ajani as saying.

The development comes weeks after the Lagos State Government postponed Basic Education Certificate Examination papers scheduled for July 1 in parts of Ikorodu Division following the declaration of the Oro Festival.

The Lagos government said the postponement was approved after consultations with relevant stakeholders to ensure the safety of candidates, examination officials and other stakeholders during the traditional festival.