By Daud Olatunji

In the wake of incessant road accidents in Ogun State, Governor Ibikunle Amosun is set to work towards criminalising traffic offences to adequately bring erring motorists to justice.

Amosun made this known when he visited the scene of last Friday’s accident along Sagamu-Benin highway where a truck driver, driving against traffic, crashed into a bus, killing 12 students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye.

He said that highway lawlessness, which has pervaded the nation is more pronounced in Ogun because the expressways predominantly lie within its territory, assuring that the state would look into how the Federal Highway Code would criminalise traffic offenses.

Amosun, who also visited the only survivor, Laughter Akibo at Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilisan, was accompanied by his Deputy, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga, Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe Adekunle, permanent secretaries and security chiefs.

Lamenting that the problem primarily was not the law but its enforcement, he said that the government would continue to empower traffic and security agencies for optimal performance.

“We feel this lawlessness everyday. A sane mind does not need to be told to desist from driving against traffic. We need the capacity to address this menace. We will look into the Federal Highway Code and domesticate it. We will  make it more potent and endeavour to criminalise traffic offense.

“Besides, our problem is not the law but its enforcement. We will not relent in supporting our traffic and security agencies for better performance,”he said.

While commiserating with the families of the deceased and the university community, Amosun advised OOU students to avoid taking laws into their hands, stating that government is making efforts to get the driver arrested.