For the past 20 years, Ayetoro has been ravaged yearly by sea surges claiming more than 50 per cent of the land and destroying properties worth millions of Naira. On April 19, 2023, the latest sea surge affected more than 200 homes and displaced thousands. To get a clearer picture of this entire situation, we’ll look at how this problem started in the first place.
History of Ayetoro, Ondo state
Ayetoro, located in the coastal region of Ilaje Local Government Area, Ondo state, was founded in 1947 by a group of Apostolic missionaries who claimed to have received a prophecy from God to move to a land near the sea.
The residents had a communal lifestyle, and by the 50s, the community rapidly developed so much that it became a tourist hub.
Source: Twitter/Groovy@avogroovy
Ayetoro’s serenity and beauty soon earned it the nickname “Happy City”, but everything changed when crude oil was discovered in the Ilaje LGA in 1952.
The curse of crude oil
At first, oil exploration wasn’t any cause for alarm until the water started getting polluted from oil spills that endangered aquatic life. It soon became impossible for residents to fish, which was their primary source of income.
Zikoko Citizen spoke with a former Ayetoro resident, Anthony, who informed us that before the problem of sea incursion started, there was at least a distance of 1 km between the sea and houses, and children played at the seashores. However, currently, Ayetoro has no more shores, and this has caused many fishers in the town to relocate.
Additionally, global warming has contributed to the rising sea levels, causing surges that have damaged over 500 buildings, including houses, schools and even cemeteries.
What has the government done so far?
In 2004, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded the Ayetoro Shoreline Protection Project contract to Gallet Nigeria Limited. This contract was worth 6.4 billion Naira, and 25% was paid upfront to these contractors, but no work was carried out on the project.
In 2009, the contract was re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Limited at the cost of 6.5 billion Naira. A mobilisation fee of 2.5 billion Naira was paid, but it’s 14 years after, and Dredging Atlantic are nowhere close to starting this project.
What’s mind-boggling is that the government hasn’t prosecuted these contractors yet. This has raised the question of whether the government is complicit in this seeming fraud case or they’re choosing to turn a blind eye to the community’s problems.
In 2009, the then-deputy governor of Ondo state, Agboola Ajayi, embarked on a trip to the Netherlands with two representatives of Ayetoro. They intended to study how the Dutch, who once faced a similar problem, reclaimed their land. But unfortunately, nothing came out of this.
The Ondo state government, in June 2021, said it was looking to partner with stakeholders, i.e. the World Bank, Federal Ministry of Environment, and other ecological partners, to find a long-term solution to the sea incursion problem. However, it’s been almost two years, and… crickets.
Anthony informed Citizen that Ayetoro residents campaigned and visited the Ondo State Ministry of Environment several times to address this problem. And he’d like the Ondo state government, in partnership with the federal government, to re-award the contract and mobilise the contractors to ensure execution.
In 2006, Ayetoro had about 30,000 residents, but the population has depleted to 5,000. These people are on the verge of losing their ancestral homes, and, unfortunately, the Ondo state government continues to handle this situation with a lackadaisical attitude.
