A truck reportedly lost control and rammed into students at Seico Secondary School, killing one female student who was sitting for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination and critically injuring another.
The incident happened on the freshly repaired Ikangba/Agoro Road in the Ikangba area of Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, while the students were coming home after finishing their exams for the day.
Mr Eko Nicholas, a resident in the area, told Saturday PUNCH that the vehicle, which was approaching from the Molipa end of the road, abruptly veered off its lane, striking the pupils before colliding with the fence of a nearby Redeemed Christian Church of God congregation.
“Nobody knows what exactly caused the truck to veer off the road, but it ran into the students coming from the opposite direction. The truck eventually crashed into the fence of a Redeemed church beside the road,” Nicholas said.
“The students were clearly WASSCE candidates as they were holding their question papers. One of them, a female student, died on the spot, while another female was critically injured. We are all praying for her survival,” he added.
Nicholas, who is the Chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), decried the increased frequency of accidents on the road after it was rehabilitated.
He blamed the frequent accidents on the government’s failure to construct speed bumps or other measures to restrict speeding and irresponsible driving in the region.
“This is yet another needless death on the Ikangba/Agoro Road,” he said. “Since February, we have lost six lives to accidents on this road, not to mention the many others who have been injured.”
“We once again call on the state government to urgently install speed breakers and streetlights along this road to prevent further tragedies. Several schools are located along this stretch, and schoolchildren walk to and from school daily.”
Nicholas stated that the CDWR had previously written to the government about the issue but received no response.
Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, confirmed the incident on Saturday.
“Yes, the incident has been confirmed. One school pupil died in the crash,” Akinbiyi said in a telephone interview.
