The people and residents of the coastal community of Ayetoro in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo state have been fleeing the town following the incursion of the Atlantic ocean that ravaged the community.
The ocean surge which wreaked havoc on the community, destroyed properties worth millions of naira and rendered many of the residents homeless, while the surge had taken over more than half of the land of the community.
Speaking with NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, the Secretary of the Ayetoro Youths Congress, Emmanuel Aralu, said more than 200 homes were affected during the latest surge which occurred on Sunday, displacing thousands of residents.
Aralu said the surge has become an annual occurrence which successive governments had failed to attend to, saying hundreds of homes and properties including schools, hospitals and business centers had been destroyed with several people displaced by the ocean surge.
He said the recent surge had rendered many landlords homeless while many of the residents of the community had relocated to the neighboring communities.
According to him, all efforts to draw the attention of the state and federal government to address the yearly surge had failed and said “government has abandoned the community to be at the mercy of ecological disasters.
“The ocean surge has been threatening the existence of the Ayetoro community and this has been happening for the past 20 years. The level of destruction cannot be qualified again. From 2015 till date the community has lost over 10 kilometers of the landscape to the ravaging sea surge.
“This time around no fewer than 500 to 700 buildings have been destroyed or washed off with properties worth millions of naira washed away. We have cried to the state and Federal government but all efforts to get government attention has proof abortive.”
Aralu recalled that contractors had been mobilized to the site twice for the dredging of the ocean but said no work was done on the site, while the government never bothered to query or probe those behind the contract while the residents are dying on yearly basis.
He blamed the state government and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the natural disaster due to what he described as their failure to complete the N6.5 billion shoreline protection contract awarded to a company, Atlantic Dredgers Limited (DAL) in 2006.
“We are calling on the government at all levels to please come to our aid. We want to appealed to all relevant agencies and authorities concerned to help save Aiyetoro community from going into extinction”
Another resident, Edward Ikuesan, said the community might be wiped out in the next few months if the government and relevant agencies fail to attend to the plight of the community.
“As we speak, the ocean surge has wiped out more than half of the Ayetoro community. Asides homes and properties that had been lost to the ocean incursion, the people of the community now live in fear of getting wiped out by the sea in the next few days.
“In 2006, the community had 30,000 residents but now, the population has been depleted to 5,000 due to incessant sea incursions into the community which had forced many residents to relocate to other areas.
He, however, appealed to the government and intervention agencies to come to their rescue so that the sea would not wipe away the entire community.
Speaking on the occurrence of the sea incursion, in a phone interview, the traditional ruler of the town, the Ogeleoyinbo of Aiyetoro, Oba Micah Olaseni Ajijo, who confirmed the incident, said the ocean surge has destroyed everything on its path.
He attributed the frequent surge to the emissions from the activities of the oil companies in the coastal community of Ayetoro and other adjoining communities.
“That is the reality of rising temperatures and sea levels due to carbon emissions. The International agreement on carbon cap is not implemented and oil companies off the coast of Aiyetoro still flare their gas, not minding the environmental challenges on coastal communities.
“As there is no social justice, there is also no environmental justice in the policies of the political class. We only cry to God as the sea eats our land and coastal towns in Nigeria, may our God and creator give us peace and command the raging waves to be still,” he prayed.
Another resident of the community in a trending video, called on the federal and state government as well as the intervention agencies – the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ondo State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission to come to the rescue of the community in order not to go into extinction.
The voice in the video said, “Please save our souls, this is the Ayetoro Community. This afternoon, April 17, 2023, it is being submerged by the sea. Many houses have been destroyed. More than half of the community has been encroached by the ravaging sea surge.
“This is excruciating, this is sardonic. We are calling on the relevant agencies to please rescue this community. Ayetoro must not go into extinction, many people are relocating, these are houses being destroyed this afternoon, in fact we don’t know what to do again.
“We are appealing to the federal government, we are appealing to the state government, we are appealing to the Niger Delta Development Commission and we are appealing to the Ondo State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission to please come to our rescue, this is serious, in fact it is destroying houses like tornadoes.
“You can see the iconic worship centre, the church of the community submerged by the sea. For the past one year, we have relocated the worship centre to another place, these are ancient houses built by our forefathers
We don’t know where we are going and we don’t know where to go.
We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, we are calling on the governor of Ondo State, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, we are calling on the international community. The Ayetoro community is a glorious community that must not go into extinction . This is serious as many have been displaced. Please help us.”
