The Executive Director Project of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Charles Ogunmola, has assured the people of the Ayetoro community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo state that the commission would explore and deploy the best and latest technology to put an end to the sea incursion.
Ogunmola who stated this during the commission’s visit to the area ravaged by sea incursion said NDDC is set to put permanent structures in place to prevent future sea incursion in the coastal area of the state.
Speaking during the flag-off of the distribution of Palliatives and relief materials to the victims of the Ayetoro sea incursion, Ogunmola said the distribution became necessary to put cushion the effect of destruction by the sea incursion and put smiles on the faces of the people of the Ayetoro community.
He disclosed that the palliatives were jointly donated by the NDDC and Rural Africa Health Initiative (RAHI) and said “We have been on this journey for over 12 years, no solution. But I can assure you that in the near future we are going to stop this ocean surge, we are going to protect lives and properties and we are going to give the people of Ayetoro the better life they deserve.
“The NDDC feel the pain and that is why we have to rush down here toda⁸890y to bring what we can call phase one palliative and we will make sure that it reaches the affected community and we still have more palliative on the way.
“The next phase will be kind of introducing some settlement so that the people that have been displaced can have a roof over their head until they were able to rebuild, and for us pending, we will be able to address this sea incursion that used to happen.
“The first thing for us is to how to address the disaster, to also put infrastructure and solution in places that will prevent this ocean surge from coming in into the community and devastating and taking the lives of the people and that is why we have come here today and we will continue to come.
“I am from Ondo State, and I vowed that I will start the development from the South to the North and my tenure will see that happening no matter what has happened before. Because if we see what has happened here in Ayetoro, the sea is taking approximately four to five hundred centimetres a year and if at that in the next hundred years that sea incursion will be in Akure if we don’t stop it now.
“So we are going to bring in the best technical skills to address this problem just like other people have done around the world. Now this sea incursion will be stopped and it is going to be our administration that will stop this problem no matter what.
“We give our commitment to the affected community as NDDC in partnership with SEMA and the State Government, we are going to find a lasting solution to the problem of ocean surge in Ayetoro.”
Speaking earlier, the Director of the Ondo state Office of the NDDC, Salami Olaniyi Okogie said “We are gathering here to solidarize with what happened at Ayetoro, where the community was set off by the flood and the habitants had to relocate to some temporary places.
“When the information got to us, NDDC set up a machinery in place to quickly address the challenges about that and they have brought the little items for the habitants, the indigenes of Ayetoro.
“We are here to visit the site and see the various affected people, console them and let them know what the NDDC has in stock for them and what immediately can be provided for them now.”
Responding on behalf of the community, the traditional ruler of the town, the Ogeleoyinbo of Ayetoro, Oba Micah Olaseni Ajijo, appreciated the gesture of the NDDC towards the people of Ayetoro and for responding promptly to save the community from extinction.
The monarch who was represented by the Bobagunwa of Ayetoro, Rev. Apostle Jeseri Iwasanmi Ajijo, attributed the frequent surge to the failure of the NDDC to properly study the community before the commission decided to move into the community.
He said “No proper study was carried out since 2004 when NDDC decided to move into the community and that is why we are having this problem.
“We want to appreciate the Ondo state government and the Federal Government for what they have done so far. But the truth of the matter is that we are really disturbed.
” We hope that the government will implement what they have promised to do for us in order to find a lasting solution to this sea incursion in our community.
“This is the area that supplies the Ondo state their revenue and nobody bothers about Ilaje, we are really disturbed.
“We do not stay in Aiyetoro to fish but to fulfil the vision and mission of our founding fathers who gave us a place under the sun, so, we have no place to go”.
“We promise to cooperate with NDDC, we want our community to be protected, and we want the road from Igbokoda/Ugbonla to Ayetoro to be done. Please help us we are Nigerians and we must be recognized, we are producing oil in this area, we are producing personnel for Nigeria, and we should be honoured and regarded.”
It will be recalled that the ocean surge had recently wreaked havoc on the residents of the coastal community of Ayetoro, destroying properties worth millions of naira and rendering many of the community residents homeless.
The Secretary of Ondo State Emergency Management Agency (OSEMA) Olufemi Obideyi, appealed to the international organizations to also come to the aid of the Ayetoro community to save the community from going into extinction.
Obideyi, however, said all hands must be on deck to find a lasting solution to the sea incursion in the community.
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